Tikkun Daily Blog Archive (https://www.tikkun.org/tikkundaily/category/politics/peacemaking/page/66/)
About war and efforts to bring about peace. About changing a foreign policy of domination to one of generosity.
My prescription for Israel would be to spare no effort to forge a generous political agreement with the Palestinian Authority for two states, …. but it’s still up to Iran to stop threatening Israel’s existence.
The story so far… So, the Palestinians have failed in their attempt to gain full statehood recognition through the UN Security Council. Even if they had achieved the nine votes required, we know that the United States would have used its veto to turn the win into only a moral victory. The General Assembly can now have its say but can only vote on a lesser status than full statehood for the Palestinians. Of course, even if the statehood bid had been successful it would have done little to change the reality on the ground for Palestinians.
There is a shrinking minority of Israelis who share Erin’s consternation and are willing to question whether the end (Israel) justifies the means (Israel’s “original sins”). This group’s dwindling influence, due in part to the relentless attacks from the hawkish and nationalistic coalition that emerged from the last election, is palpable
I may be an outlier as a blogger on this site for fully supporting the NATO military campaign to oust Qaddafi. I was gratified that French aircraft stopped his forces cold as they closed in on Benghazi less than two months into the revolution. They would undoubtedly have exacted a terrible toll in death and suffering if they had been allowed to prevail and exact their revenge on the rebel capital. NATO’s ability to help the rebels overthrow this dictator, without sending in an army on the ground, was a triumph for collective action in a humanitarian cause. It also may have inaugurated a new “Obama Doctrine,” which emphasizes some important principles: that the United States lends its military might in a collective effort (in this case, even taking a back seat to France, Britain and other allies) in a limited way, with the support of an international consensus, as expressed in this instance by the United Nations Security Council; the U.S. and its allies need to be aware of their limitations and cannot intervene everywhere.
Congress is taking up dangerous legislation which appears to be designed to pave the way for war by taking the unprecedented step of effectively preventing any kind of U.S. diplomatic contact with Iran.
An Israeli sociologist on why Richard Goldstone’s recent NYT op-ed betrays the judge’s commitment to justice and truth– and why “apartheid” doesn’t aptly describe the Israeli system of controlling Palestinians.
What is happening between Iran and the West? And what is going to happen. Clearly we see increased sabre-rattling, warnings of war, mutual bellicosity. But why now? Who gets served by this?
We call for young Jews and allies nationwide to join in solidarity with Occupy Wall Street and with our Palestinian siblings living under their own form of occupation. Let us stand up to the 1% in our own community – the powerful institutions that support Israel’s corporate-backed military control of the Palestinian people and act as the gatekeepers for our community. Throughout history, Jews have been persecuted as the scapegoats for powerful financiers, thus bearing the brunt of economic hardship on multiple fronts. This collective memory instills us with the responsibility to speak out against corporate exploitation and human rights violations, such as the occupation of the West Bank, Gaza, and East Jerusalem, which has politically and economically disenfranchised over nine million people in the name of Jewish statehood. The ongoing colonization of Palestine has concentrated wealth in the hands of the ultra-stratified Israeli elite, as well as multinational corporations like Caterpillar, Motorola, Elbit, Northrop Grumman, and Veolia.
Representatives David Price (D-NC) and Peter Welch (D-VT) deserve accolades for theirCongressional letter encouraging President Barack Obama and Congress to work together to prevent cutting U.S. assistance to the Palestinians. They correctly note that aid to the Palestinians is not a favor to the Palestinians nor is it something that should be withheld as punishment for their statehood efforts at the United Nations. Continued assistance is actually in the strategic interest of the United States, Israel and Palestine because it bolsters security and strengthens Palestinian governance. Supporters of the letter are far from left wing anti-Israel, pro-Palestinian peaceniks. The Shin Bet, Israel’s F.B.I, has noted that U.S.-trained Palestinian Authority security forces are aprimary reason that 2010 was the most terror-free year in the last decade.U.S. and Israeli experts also connect the dots between U.S. assistance and improved security.
The starting point for the conflict was material, the land both groups wanted as living place. But in addition to living place, for both groups the same land had special meaning. For Jews, it was the land they prayed to return to for two thousand years, and also the land on which they believed they could avoid the persecution they have suffered for many centuries, culminating in the Holocaust, the murder of about 6 million Jews in Nazi Europe. For Palestinians it was the land on which they have lived for a long time, on which they suffered repressive rule by various countries – Turkey, England, then Israel– the land that has been their home. The same land is not only needed as living place but is central to the identity of both groups.