Madison Rafah Journal

Agence France Presse, 29 Aug 2010

WASHINGTON (AFP) – The United States on Sunday condemned as “deeply offensive” remarks by an influential Israeli rabbi who said he hoped Palestinian leader Mahmud Abbas would “vanish from our world.”

“We regret and condemn the inflammatory statements by Rabbi Ovadia Yosef,” State Department spokesman Philip Crowley said in a statement.

“These remarks are not only deeply offensive, but incitement such as this hurts the cause of peace.”

Ovadia, who heads a religious party in Israel’s ruling coalition, expressed hope in his weekly sermon Saturday that “all the nasty people who hate Israel, like Abu Mazen (Abbas), vanish from our world.”

“May God strike them down with the plague along with all the nasty Palestinians who persecute Israel,” he said. (Read on …)

Success in the Irish talks was the result not just of determination and time, but also a very different United States approach to diplomacy.

ALI ABUNIMAH, The New York Times, August 28, 2010

Chicago

GEORGE J. MITCHELL, the United States Middle East envoy, tried to counter low expectations for renewed Israeli-Palestinian peace negotiations by harking back to his experience as a mediator in Northern Ireland.

At an Aug. 20 news conference with Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, announcing the talks that will begin this week, Mr. Mitchell reminded journalists that during difficult negotiations in Northern Ireland, “We had about 700 days of failure and one day of success” — the day in 1998 that the Belfast Agreement instituting power-sharing between pro-British unionists and Irish nationalists was signed.

Mr. Mitchell’s comparison is misleading at best. Success in the Irish talks was the result not just of determination and time, but also a very different United States approach to diplomacy. (Read on …)

BOOKS ABOUT THE ISRAEL/PALESTINE STRUGGLE

**Abulhawa, Susan. The Scar of David. (Historical novel). 2007. Order online.

Bell, J. Bowyer. Terror out of Zion: Irgun Zvai Leumi, LEHI, and the Palestine Underground. St. Martin’s Press, New York, 1977.

**Bennis, Phyllis. Understanding the Palestinian-Israeli Conflict: A Primer. Olive Branch Press, 2009.

Donna Robinson. Politics and Society in Ottoman Palestine: The Arab Struggle for Survival and Power. London: Lynne Rienner Publishers, 1994.

Dodd, Peter and Halim Barakat. River without Bridges: A Study of the Exodus of the 1967 Palestinian Arab Refugees. Beirut: Institute of Palestine Studies, 1969. (Read on …)

“O you who believe, stand up firmly for justice as witnesses to Almighty God.” (Holy Qu’ran, al-Nisa “The Women” 4:135)

We bear witness to the absolute horror and tragedy of the Holocaust where over twelve million human souls perished, including six million Jews. We condemn any attempts to deny this historical reality and declare such denials or any justification of this tragedy as against the Islamic code of ethics. We condemn anti-Semitism in any form. No creation of Almighty God should face discrimination based on his or her faith or religious conviction.
Statement by American imams and Muslim leaders

Justin Elliott, Salon, Aug 23, 2010

Earlier this month eight American imams and Muslim leaders took a trip to the Dachau and Auschwitz concentration camps accompanied by the Obama Administration’s envoy to combat anti-Semitism, Hannah Rosenthal, and its official representative to the Muslim world, Rashad Hussein. At the end of the emotional trip, the imams released a joint statement (.pdf) condemning Holocaust denial and anti-Semitism.

It all seemed like a perfectly good idea, which is why some were surprised that Abe Foxman, the head of the Anti-Defamation League — which counts Holocaust education and battling anti-Semitisim as core missions — actually lobbied against the participation of U.S. officials in the trip.

(Read on …)

The issues faced by Palestinians in Israel radically undermine the well-worn cliché that Israel is “the only democracy in the Middle East.” Israel’s treatment of its Palestinian minority is the test of chances for a comprehensive peace. So far, it doesn’t look good.

Ben White, Salon.com, 19 Aug 2010

Reuters/Mohamad Torokman

The refrain from Israeli politicians and the country’s allies and apologists is familiar: There can be no peace deal until the Palestinians “recognize” Israel as “a Jewish state.” While this can sound reasonable to the casual listener in the West, this demand actually points to critical flaws in the “peace process” and the way in which the international community approaches the Palestine/Israel question.

This is because such a demand, and understanding why it is so unacceptable to Palestinians, means going back to 1948 – when hundreds of Palestinian towns and villages were destroyed, their inhabitants forbidden from returning by the new Jewish state — and throwing the spotlight on two groups of Palestinians that the so-called peace process has ignored or marginalized: the refugees of ’48 (and their descendants) and the Palestinian minority that’s left inside Israel. The unpleasant reality is that Israel as “a Jewish state” means the permanent exile and dispossession of the former, and the colonial control of the latter.

In the West, even talking about Palestinian citizens inside Israel risks confusion, since for so long they have been referred to as “Israeli Arabs” or “Arab Israelis.” This is a formulation intended to obfuscate their Palestinian identity, a discursive erasure symbolic of far more brutal methods (some of which are described below). The lack of attention paid to the issues faced by Palestinians in Israel by Western politicians and pundits is unfortunate, since their historic and contemporary reality radically undermines the well-worn cliché that Israel is “the only democracy in the Middle East.” (Read on …)

Posing and smiling with blindfolded Palestinian prisoners — and then posting the pics to Facebook? What’s the big deal, an Israeli reserve officer asks. (wired.com)

Haaretz, 16 Aug 2010

‘Best time of my life.’ Female soldier smiles for camera in front of bound prisoners, before joking online with friends; army calls photos ‘ugly and callous.’

A former Israel Defense Forces soldier has raised a storm on the internet after posting photographs of herself posing next to blindfold Palestinian prisoners on Facebook.

Photographs uploaded by Eden Abergil from Ashdod and labeled “IDF – the best time of my life” show her smiling next to Palestinian prisoners with their hands bound and their eyes covered. (Read on …)

from the Palestine-Israel Action Group, Ann Arbor Friends Meeting
Links courtesy of Friends of Sabeel — North America (FOSNA)

The front of each of these Palestinian Loss-of-Land cards succinctly illustrates Israel’s expansion and West Bank settlement policies since 1948.

Three options are available for the back of the cards:

Option 1: No Taxes for Occupation: Postcard tells President Obama and Congress how our tax dollars are harming Palestinians.

Option 2: No Taxes for Settlements: U.S. taxes help Israel build illegal settlements on Palestinian land.

Option 3: Stop the Land Grab: Illustrates how Israeli settlements splinter the West Bank. Read Sharon’s plan!
(Read on …)

For the first time there is going to be a session on the Israeli/Palestinian conflict at Fighting Bob Fest, the annual Chautauqua in Baraboo featuring progressive speakers, networking opportunities, and entertainment. The Fest carries on the tradition of Robert “Fighting Bob” La Follette by providing a forum for progressive ideas on issues facing Wisconsin and the nation.

The Madison-Rafah Sister City Project is a co-sponsor of the Israeli/Palestinian workshop. We are preparing an educational and resource packet for all attendees, and will also have an information booth in the exhibition hall.

Israel/Palestine: A Progressive View

Robert La Follette opposed colonialism and U.S. imperialism and believed in the right of self-determination for all peoples. He wanted a U.S. foreign policy that met the highest ideals of America. The ongoing Israeli occupation of Palestinian land and Israel’s continued oppression of the Palestinians have increased anti-American sentiment in the Mideast and around the world. This session will assess the current situation on the ground between Israel and Palestine, examine U.S. policy, present a seldom-heard Palestinian perspective, and explore ways to arrive at a peaceful solution.

Moderator: Matthew Rothschild of The Progressive magazine. (Read on …)