February 24, 2010

Symposium on Mideast peace at Villanova

Israel and Palestine
A Symposium on the Obstacles to Peace
November 18, 2009
Villanova University
Connelly Center Cinema

Welcome: Bishop Allen Bartlett, Episcopal Church

Life in Occupied Palestine: Eyewitness Stories & Photos

Anna Baltzer, author of Witness in Palestine: Journal of a Jewish-American Woman in the Occupied Territories

Panel 1: Settlements, Violence and Security
Dr. Sayed Omran, moderator
Geoffrey Aronson, editor of the Settlement Report for the Foundation for Middle East Peace
Daoud Nassar, Palestinian farmer from the Tent of Nations

Panel 2: Jerusalem and Refugees
Dr. Hasan Shahpari, moderator
Lawrence Davidson, professor, Middle East history, West Chester University
Susan Abulhawa, scientist, founder of Playgrounds for Palestine, and author of the novel Mornings in Jenin

Experiencing Palestine: You are welcome!
Rev. Sunny Hallanan and son Payne present their summer experience in Palestine.
Naziha Mustafa, Palestinian activist and Temple graduate student, talks about her family's life in the West Bank.

What can churches do for Middle East peace?
Ambassador Warren Clark, director of Churches for Middle East Peace; Foreign Service career in Africa and the Middle East

Sponsors: Ecumenical Working Group for Middle East Peace, Villanova Center for Arab and Islamic Studies, Justice and Peace Office for the Province of St. Thomas of Villanova, Villanova Center for Peace and Justice Education, and Catholic Peace Fellowship.

February 22, 2010

Stephen M. Walt at Foreign Policy

"Department of Meaningless Gestures," November 10, 2009:
Two eminent mainstream journalists -- Tom Friedman and Joe Klein -- recently called for United States to disengage from the Israeli-Palestinian peace process, on the grounds that Palestinians were too divided to make a deal and the Israelis were not interested in one. Friedman couldn't bring himself to draw the logical conclusion -- if the United States truly going to "disengage," that also means cutting off its economic and military assistance -- but Klein did.

I have a certain sympathy for this position (and even wrote similar things myself before I wised up), but there are two problems with this specific idea. . . . (continued)

Rep. Keith Ellison: "Read Goldstone's Report on Gaza"

HuffingtonPost.com, November 3, 2009.
The Goldstone Report.

February 14, 2010

"Local resident offers the view from Palestine"

PhillyBurbs.com: "Local resident offers the view from Palestine," Kaitlyn Willcoxon, Intelligencer, July 9, 2009:
Despite "looks" from neighbors and her family's fears, Susan Johnson, "a little grandmother from Doylestown," traveled to the West Bank in 2004 and this May visited the Gaza Strip.

For Johnson, a local resident for 50 years, travel to the West Bank and Gaza follows a career of passionate activism, having protested the Iraq War both in Doylestown and Washington.

Tonight at a coffee house in Doylestown, she plans to speak about what she saw in the Middle East.

From very early, Johnson argued fervently in favor of Israel's right to exist, but the Israeli construction of the separation wall in 2002 angered her. Then through "divine intervention" at a protest of the Iraq War, a woman approached Johnson and asked if she would consider going to the West Bank with a group called Women of a Certain Age.

After meeting the group of 13 "bright, funny, articulate, women +10 of them were Jewish, which was a big awakening to me," Johnson decided to go to the West Bank. She calls it "a life-changing experience."

When Johnson received a letter from the organization UN Relief, forwarded by one of the women from Women of a Certain Age, with an application to travel to Gaza, she considered the opportunity for several days. She applied and the UN accepted her to join a delegation of 13 other people and departed in May.

"I really wanted to see for myself," says Johnson, who after her trip believes that media coverage of Israel and Palestine is unbalanced.

One example Johnson gives is the coverage of Hamas.

"Hamas is described as terrorists + Hamas and others shoot rockets over into Israel. I also saw that Hamas supplies or facilitates aid to the people in Gaza that they wouldn't get otherwise," Johnson said. "Suppose your house was demolished, then they come and give your family money."

Hamas does "not brainwash all of the kids or people, or it wouldn't be safe to walk around in Gaza," she said. Johnson felt safe the entire time she was in Gaza City and Rafa.

With the delegation, Johnson also visited the Qattan Center for Children and Culture, which "could be a children's center built in Doylestown for all the suburban kids and their parents would be thrilled."

The center provides a library, computer rooms, English classes, arts and crafts, music, and dance classes. Most importantly, the center provides one of the only places, according to Johnson, that the children feel safe enough to have fun and act like children.

Though it would mean leaving behind her grandchildren, Johnson is considering volunteering at the Qattan Center to care for "the world's grandchildren," because, " I want my grandchildren to respect me and know that I've done what I could to make the world a better place. + I think it's why we're here on earth + that may sound high or lofty, but I believe that with all my heart."

Now back in Doylestown, Johnson wants to ensure that as many people learn about both her experience and the plight of Palestinians. Despite "challenges" with the computer, Johnson started a blog, "Palestine: Seeing for Myself" at seeingformyself.blogspot.com. . . .


Many of the photos Johnson showed at Saxby's can be viewed at www.vivagaza.org/. She also recommended the blog of another member of the delegation, Philip Weiss: Mondoweiss. Several Israeli peace advocates were named, including Uri Avnery, who wrote this about the Gaza war.

Amnesty International issued a report on July 2, 2009: Israel/Gaza: Operation "Cast Lead": 22 Days of Death and Destruction. Amnesty also called on Israel to co-operate fully with the independent Gaza fact-finding mission set up by the UN Human Rights Council and headed by Justice Richard Goldstone. Read Rep. Keith Ellison re Goldstone and his report, submitted in September 2009.

"Obstruction of Justice" for Dr. Al-Arian

By Chris Hedges, truthdig.com, March 30, 2009:
. . . The trial of Al-Arian is a cause célèbre in the Muslim world. A documentary film was made about the case in Europe. He has become the poster child for judicial abuse and persecution of Muslims in the United States by the Bush administration. The facts surrounding the trial and imprisonment of the former university professor have severely tarnished the integrity of the American judicial system and made the government’s vaunted campaign against terrorism look capricious, inept and overtly racist. . . .

A jury, on Dec. 6, 2005, acquitted Dr. Al-Arian on eight of the counts in the superseding indictment after a six-month trial in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida. On the 94 charges made against the four defendants, there were no convictions. Of the 17 charges against Al-Arian—including “conspiracy to murder and maim persons abroad”—the jury acquitted him of eight and was hung on the rest. The jurors, who voted 10 to 2 to acquit on the remaining charges, could not reach a unanimous decision calling for his full acquittal. Two others in the case, Ghassan Ballut and Sameeh Hammoudeh, were acquitted of all charges. . . . (continued)

February 13, 2010

Uri Avnery on Israel's new government

"The Ruse of Israel's New Government," by Uri Avnery, Tikkun Magazine, March 28, 2009:
. . . All of them agree on the need to prevent the establishment of a real Palestinian state. All of them agree not to talk with Hamas. All of them support the settlement enterprise. During Barak’s stint as Prime Minister, the settlements grew even faster than during Netanyahu’s tenure. Liberman is himself a settler, Hershkovitz’s party represents the settlers. All of them believe that there is no need for peace, that peace is bad for us. (After all, it was Barak, not Netanyahu or Liberman, who coined the phrase “We Have No Partner for Peace”.)

So what will be the real platform of this government?

In four words: Deception for the fatherland.

On this government’s chosen path there lies a huge rock: the United States of America. . . .

If there is one thing that unites practically all Israelis, from right to left, it is the conviction that the relationship between Israel and the US is critical for the security of the state. Netanyahu’s main concern is, therefore, to prevent a serious break between the two countries. . . .

The clash seems inevitable. Obama wants to create a new order in the Middle East. He knows that the Israeli-Palestinian conflict poisons the atmosphere against America in the Arab, and indeed in the entire Muslim world. He wants a solution to the conflict – exactly what Netanyahu and his partners want to prevent at any price, except the price of a breach with the US.

How to do this? . . . Now the task is to present to the world, and especially the US and Europe, a false picture, pretending that our new government is yearning for peace, acting for peace, indeed turning every stone in search of peace - while doing the exact opposite. . . .

Is Obama ready to play, like most of his predecessors, the role of the deceived lover?

The Biberman/Bibarak/Bibiyahu government believes that the answer is a resounding yes. I hope that it will be a resounding No.

"This round to AIPAC?"

"A Freeman Post Mortem: This round to AIPAC?" by Scott Horton, Harper's, March 11, 2009: ". . . Andrew [Sullivan] is clearly right in noting that the absence of critical voices inside the Obama team will make meaningful change much more difficult. And that was likely the principal objective of those who led the attacks on Freeman. . . ." (continued)

Avraham Burg: "The Holocaust Is Over"

Amy Goodman, Democracy Now! February 12, 2009:

. . . We’re joined now by a former Israeli politician who has emerged as one of his government’s biggest critics. Avraham Burg is a former speaker of the Israeli parliament, the Knesset. He’s former chair of the Jewish Agency and the World Zionist Organization. His new book, though, is called The Holocaust Is Over: We Must Rise from Its Ashes. . . .

Avraham Burg: When I look at some of the AIPAC’s, OK, activities, I have a feeling that sometimes we’re having three political entities: the United States of America, the sovereign state of Israel, and the independent state of AIPAC, which has its own policy, whatever it is, not working for the best interests of Israel, according to the way I understand it and Yitzhak Rabin understood it, and not according to the best interests of the United States of America. . . . And I would like to see the alternative American Jewry, which is expressed through the liberalism and humanism and civil rights and a total commitment toward peace. . . .

Amy Goodman: What about the US government and what’s happening now? The US House and Senate passed resolutions in support of the Israeli attack on Gaza.

Avraham Burg: A mistake.

Amy Goodman: What is your thought on that?

Avraham Burg: A mistake.

Amy Goodman: Why?

Avraham Burg: Because this is still the energy of the ocean liner of George W. Bush, that “Never mind what Israel is doing. Never mind what my beloved child is doing. I’ll never say no.” Now, it is wrong for the world, it is wrong for American interests, and it’s wrong for Israel. . . . By the end of the day, everybody knows what will be the bottom line. The bottom line will be ’67 lines, and whatever cannot be resolved according to the exact geographic line will be land swap.

Amy Goodman: Should Israel pull out entirely from the West Bank and Gaza?

Avraham Burg: Tomorrow morning. No, actually, yesterday, yesterday evening. No doubt about it.

Amy Goodman: Pull out all the settlements.

Avraham Burg: Yeah, it pollutes our morality, and it contaminates our policy. . . . (continued)

Jimmy Carter on Mideast peace, 26 Jan. 2009

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Uri Avnery on Gaza

"The Boss Has Gone Mad," by Uri Avnery, January 19, 2009:
. . . In this war, politicians and generals have repeatedly quoted the words: “The boss has gone mad!” originally shouted by vegetable vendors in the market, in the sense of “The boss has gone crazy and is selling the tomatoes at a loss!” But in the course of time the jest has turned into a deadly doctrine that often appears in Israeli public discourse: in order to deter our enemies, we must behave like madmen, go on the rampage, kill and destroy mercilessly. . . . (continued)

Chomsky on Gaza, January 13, 2009



About the Lecture
While he admits to no surprise about events in Gaza, Noam Chomsky does consider “the latest U.S.-Israeli attack on helpless Palestinians” a step beyond terrorism and aggression. He says “some new term is needed for the sadistic and cowardly torture of people caged with no possibility of escape, being pounded daily by the most sophisticated products of U.S. military technology.” (continued)

"Israel’s 'Crime Against Humanity'"

By Chris Hedges, truthdig.com, December 15, 2008: "Israel’s siege of Gaza, largely unseen by the outside world because of Jerusalem’s refusal to allow humanitarian aid workers, reporters and photographers access to Gaza, rivals the most egregious crimes carried out at the height of apartheid by the South African regime. It comes close to the horrors visited on Sarajevo by the Bosnian Serbs. It has disturbing echoes of the Nazi ghettos of Lodz and Warsaw. . . ." (continued)

"Interfaith push for M. E. peace"

By Larry Snider, Special to the Trenton Times, September 7, 2008, posted by Rabbi Arthur Waskow, The Shalom Center:
On March 24, twenty people from the Philadelphia area flew together from Newark to Ben Gurion Airport near Tel Aviv, Israel. These twenty, actually nineteen, were local Muslim, Christian and Jewish clergy and lay leaders whom I brought together to form the Delaware Valley Interfaith Delegation to Israel/Palestine. The twentieth member of our group, my Rabbi, Sandy Roth of Kehilat HaNahar (kehilathanahar.org), in New Hope, Pa., already was in Israel and would be meeting us at the airport along with Leah Green, director of the Compassionate Listening Project (compassionatelistening.org), and Maha El-Taji, her associate.

In less than a year, I put together an interfaith journey, got my rabbi and the Rev. Al Krass to agree to take part and help me, and got Leah to alter the format of her 21 previous delegations (made up of people from across the United States and Canada) to accommodate a local interfaith delegation. I had been a member of her delegation in 2001. We built a delegation that agreed to meet regularly, raise the money together, study Compassionate Listening together, make the trip and return to work together to tell the stories we heard to educate the public about the Middle East, and encourage individuals to become involved in peacemaking. . . . (continued)

"On the Ground in Israel/Palestine"

By Ray McGovern, consortiumnews.com, October 19, 2007.
"I saw nothing that surprised me — but plenty that shocked me. Let me explain. . . ." (continued)

Anti-Defamation League on Stephen Walt on NPR

"Fresh Air from WHYY, September 4, 2007 • In The Deadliest Lies, Anti-Defamation League national director Abraham Foxman responds to The Israel Lobby, arguing that Stephen Walt and John Mearsheimer's work 'serves merely as an attractive new package for disseminating a series of familiar but false beliefs' about Jews and Israel."

Stephen Walt on "The Israel Lobby" on NPR

"Fresh Air from WHYY, September 4, 2007 • In The Israel Lobby, which grew out of a controversial 2006 article in the London Review of Books, Stephen Walt and co-author John Mearsheimer examine the impact of the Israel lobby on U.S. foreign policy. They argue that American support for Israel cannot be fully explained on either strategic or moral grounds.

"Walt teaches international affairs at Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government."