Between Dome of the Rock and a Hard Place
From the category archives:
Ha’aretz runs today a stunning and thoughtful article about how Israel must learn the language of human rights. Written by a media consultant and former adviser to the Interior Ministry, Gilad Heimann, the article manages to cut through Israeli social psychology and government hasbara efforts with admirable efficiency.
The core argument is this: [...]
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Its a news day full of tension and contradictions. First, the good—and most important—news. The Israeli army is preparing to move the route of the segregation wall in Bil’in village, where it had annexed Palestinian land and sparked weekly, mostly nonviolent protests against the land grab, according to an IDF officer’s pledge disclosed [...]
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Dr. King, if only the world listened to your message instead of using you as a cheapened stage prop. That is the dream I have.
“A true revolution of values will lay hands on the world order and say of war: This way of settling differences is not just. This business of burning human [...]
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For decades, the idea that a resolution to the Israel/Palestine conflict ought to be imposed was considered taboo, or at least politically fanciful due to the United States’ ever-ready UN Security Council veto. This diplomatic impediment has protected Israel from the need to accept, for example, a multinational peacekeeping force to prevent suicide attacks [...]
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Israel has been arresting systematically the nonviolent leadership of the West Bank. One of these nonviolent activists is Abdallah Abu Rahmah, a high school teacher from Bi’lin village, who was arrested by Israel and charged with arms possession… for collecting the spent tear gas canisters that Israel had fired at his village and putting [...]
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Blogging will be scarce to nonexistent through January 3rd. I am going to get my New Years wishes in early:
Happy new years to all, may you and your loved ones know more justice and freedom in the year to come.
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A beautiful op-ed by Jonathan Kuttab, a Palestinian attorney and human rights activist, in the Los Angeles Times. As you read this, ask yourself the question in the title of this post. Put aside tribal affiliations for a moment and let the language of equal rights play in your soul. If you [...]
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I am a severe critic of many Israeli policies. But a part of me always held on to those aspects of Israel that remained principled and democratic. Important interventions by Israel’s High Court against the use of human shields, against the early planned routes of the segregation wall, the injunction to desegregate the [...]
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Another nonviolent Palestinian activist has joined Mohammed Othman in an Israeli jail for the sole crime of organizing demonstrations against the separation wall.
A couple months ago, Abdallah Abu Rahmah of Bi’lin was providing a tour of his village for Jimmy Carter, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, former UN human rights chief Mary Robinson, and several [...]
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I am not sure why I am thinking this thought now, but perhaps its leftovers from my personal thanksgiving.
I am extremely thankful for the fact that when I think and debate about peace and justice in the Middle East, Palestinians and Israelis hold—in the deepest places of my mind and soul—precisely the same [...]
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