US Campaign Against the Israeli Occupation Launches Report Card, 110th Congress

US Campaign Against the Israeli Occupation Launches Report Card, 110th Congress

The US Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation is excited to announce the launch of its report card for the 110th Congress, 1st Session (2007).

A PDF version of the report card can be viewed by clicking here

The report card grades Senators on four resolutions (two positive, two negative) and Representatives on seven resolutions (two positive, five negative).

The US Campaign would like to thank its super-intern, Brittany Brown, for researching and compiling the information found in the report card.

Find out if your Members of Congress support restricting the sale of cluster munitions, a renewed U.S. role in Israeli-Palestinian peacemaking, Israel's illegal annexation of East Jerusalem, condemning the UN for highlighting Israel's human rights violations, and much more by clicking here

Knowing the positions of your Members of Congress is the first step in changing policy. However, we can't rely on politicians to change policy on their own. We've got to organize and mobilize people in our home Congressional districts to educate our elected decision-makers about the need to change U.S. policy toward Israel/Palestine to support human rights, international law, and equality for all, rather than supporting Israel's illegal military occupation and human rights violations against Palestinians.

The US Campaign has a network of Congressional District Coordinators (CDC's) designed to do just that. If you'd like to be responsible for organizing and mobilizing people in your Congressional district to educate your Members of Congress on this issue, please join the CDC network today by clicking here

Save the date! Monday, November 5 is an international day of action against cluster bombs. The US Campaign is joining with the Friends Committee on National Legislation, Amnesty International and many others to support a call-in day to Congress asking Members of Congress to cosponsor the Cluster Munitions Civilian Protection Act (S.594/H.R.1755). For information, click here

To view the US Campaign's new Congressional report card for 2007, please click here

Peace Path through the Middle East

Peace Path through the Middle East:
William Ury Speech on the Abraham Path Initiative

For the first time in history all cultures are in contact with each other due to the technology revolution, said conflict mediator William Ury, who calls this phenomenon the "human family reunion."

"Like many family reunions it is not all peaceful," Ury said, as some in the audience laughed.

He is the director of the Global Negotiation Project at HarvardLawSchool, the author of "Getting to Yes" and a co-founder of the International Negotiation Network. He spoke last night at the invitation of the peace and conflict studies program at the University of Colorado about his recent project in the Middle East, the Abraham Path Initiative.

The Abraham Path Initiative is a 700 mile walking tour of places connected to Abraham, a figure who is important in Judaism, Christianity and Islam. The path begins in Turkey and ends in Palestine. The initiative aims to support local economies though sustainable long term tourism.

For the Full Article - Click Here

Hate Islam Week thankfully not coming to Colorado

Hate Islam Week - or "Islamo-Facism Awareness Week" - is luckily not coming to Colorado. Spearheaded by right-wing Islamaphobe David Horowitz, this series of events being held on a number of campuses is a deliberate effort to defame Muslims and Islam and equate the world's 1.6 billion Muslims with terrorism and the "anti-Western Jihad." Luckily this event is NOT coming to Colorado, but we thought it worthy to reproduce the US Campaign action alert anyway.

Take Action: Speak Out Against "Islamo-Facism Awareness Week"

During the week of October 22-26, 2007; right-wing and neo-conservative political forces led by the David Horowitz Freedom Center are calling for "Islamo-Fascism Awareness Week" events on campuses across the U.S. (for a list of campuses and speakers, see below).

If this event is coming to your campus or neighborhood - and even if it's not - speak out against this racist assault on Muslims, Arabs, Arab-Americans, South Asians and anyone viewed as sympathetic towards those communities. While some people might dismiss the neo-conservatives as fringe elements who don't impact on U.S. policy, the truth is much more disturbing. They are part of an alliance of forces that work to maintain the war against Iraq, escalate the standoff with Iran into military conflict, and cement Israel's hold on the occupied Palestinian territories and violations of Palestinian human rights through a system of apartheid rule.

The stakes are simply too high to ignore, and we should respond to the so-called "Islamo-Fascism Awareness Week" - and to all such provocations - pro-actively, not defensively.

To find out what action you can take on your campus and in your community and to read about what others are doing, click here. To learn more about the forces driving this agenda, read "Understanding Why Islamophobia is on the Rise," the analysis by Phyllis Bennis, fellow at the Institute for Policy Studies, and member of the U.S. Campaign's steering committee.

By defending basic freedoms of thought, speech and belief, we underscore three simple messages:

We stand for free speech, not hate speech.

We stand for tolerance, not bigotry.

We stand for education, not demagoguery.

SPEAK OUT FOR FREE SPEECH, TOLERANCE, AND EDUCATION!

"Islamo-Fascism Awareness Week" speakers and venues:

Berkeley -- Nonie Darwish, October 22
Brown -- Robert Spencer, October 24
Cal Poly -- Greg Davis, October 25
Cal State Fullerton -- Nonie Darwish
Clemson -- Mike Adams, October 25
Columbia -- Phyllis Chesler, Ibn Warraq, Christina Hoff Sommers
Columbia -- Sean Hannity, David Horowitz, October 26
DePaul -- Robert Spencer, October 25
Emory -- David Horowitz, October 24
George Mason -- Luanah Saghieh, Alan Nathan, October 22
Lawrence Univ. -- Jonathan Schanzer
Maryland -- Michael Ledeen
Michigan -- David Horowitz, October 23
Northeastern -- Daniel Pipes, October 24
Ohio State -- David Horowitz, October 25
Penn -- Rick Santorum, October 24
Penn State -- Rick Santorum, October 23
Rhode Island -- Robert Spencer, October 24
San Francisco State -- Melanie Morgan, October 24
Stanford -- Wafa Sultan
Temple -- Rick Santorum, October 24
Tulane -- Ann Coulter, October 22
UC Santa Barbara - Dennis Prager, October 25
UC Irvine -- Ann Coulter
UCLA -- Nonie Darwish, October 24
UCLA -- Frank Pastore, John Ziegler
USC -- Ann Coulter, October 25
Virginia -- Frank Gaffney
Washington -- Kirby Wilbur
Washington -- Michael Medved, October 25
Wisconsin -- David Horowitz, October 22

WESTWORD: "My Name Is Rachel Corrie"

WESTWORD: "My Name Is Rachel Corrie"

Rachel Corrie has been a lightning rod for controversy since her death in Gaza at the age of 23, when she was run over by an Israeli soldier while attempting to prevent the demolition of a Palestinian home. But Rachel Corrie was more than just a symbol; she was a genuinely unique young spirit. My Name Is Rachel Corrie, put together by English actor Alan Rickman and journalist Katharine Viner from Rachel's journals and e-mails, reveals not only a deep-burning passion for justice, but sensitivity, a playful sense of humor, the usual teenage insecurities and a loving heart. The script is buoyant with memorable turns of phrase and charming, odd little flights of lyricism. It's clear that the world lost a lot when it lost this strong, individual voice.

FOR THE FULL STORY - CLICK HERE

US Campaign Adopts Proposals on Apartheid, Boycott, and Nakba

US Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation
US Campaign Adopts Proposals on Apartheid, Boycott, and Nakba

More than 100 delegates from more than 50 member organizations of the US Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation met this weekend at the Arlington Campus of George Mason University in Arlington, Virginia for the US Campaign's 6th Annual National Organizers Conference.

Delegates to the conference amended and then passed by consensus all three proposals submitted for consideration. The proposals, which will guide the work of the US Campaign for the next year, call for the US Campaign to:

> Organize a national Anti-Apartheid speaking and organizing tour;

> Launch a national boycott campaign against Motorola for profiting from Israeli occupation; and

> Commemorate the 60th anniversary of the Nakba through educational campaigns and days of action

Conference delegates also elected four new members to the US Campaign's 12-person Steering Committee to replace members whose terms expired at the conference. The newly-elected Steering Committee members are:

> Omar Baddar, SUSTAIN-Memphis
> Adam Horowitz, American Friends Service Committee
> Judith LeBlanc, United for Peace and Justice
> Ashley Wilkinson, General Board of Global Ministries, United Methodist Church

(Organizations are listed for identification purposes only. Members of the US Campaign's Steering Committee serve in their individual capacities, not as representatives of organizations.)

Other highlights of the conference included an inspiring Friday night panel entitled "Success Stories in Advocating for Palestinian Human Rights" and a Saturday night cultural event which featured the world-premier screening of "The World Says NO to Israeli Occupation," a documentary on the US Campaign's June 10 protest in Washington, DC marking 40 years of Israel's military occupation of the Palestinian West Bank, East Jerusalem, and Gaza Strip.

Yesterday dozens of conference attendees stayed for the US Campaign's lobbying day on Capitol Hill. Conference attendees met with their Members of Congress and staff to express their opposition to $30 billion in U.S. military aid to Israel over the next ten years; their support for legislation to ban the export of cluster munitions; their support for renewed U.S. peace-making efforts based on human rights and international law; and their concern about the Israel's denial of the right of entry to the Occupied Palestinian Territories to U.S. passport holders.

The US Campaign would also like to thank Students for Justice in Palestine at George Mason University for sponsoring and hosting the conference and the George Mason University administration and police department for ensuring that it was safe and successful. Although George Mason University was pressured to cancel the conference, it admirably stood up for our right of free speech against individuals who tried unsuccessfully to shut the conference down.

Within the next few weeks, the US Campaign will post videos from the conference, a conference report, and the texts of the proposals passed as amended.

Imam Ibrahim Kazerooni and Rob Prince: Iran

Boulder Daily Camera, Letters to the Editor Blog, 20 September 2007 - Online Here

Will the US Attack Iran?
by Imam Ibrahim Kazerooni and Rob Prince

Excerpt:

Calls for deepening sanctions, funding of subversion against Iran, and cutting economic ties (as Gordon and Fitzpatrick suggest we do) - an economic and political full court press - are steps towards unleasing the military option, which appears more likely with each passing day. Once again the Bush Administration - with much bipartisan support - is passing up a golden opportunity for resolving our differences with Iran diplomatically.

The current policy is leading us up dark alley which will result in tragic consequences for American, the region and Iranian people if not the world. Let’s not let this happen. Don’t do it, don’t attack Iran.

Charging Anti-Semitism To Silence Dissent

Charging Anti-Semitism To Silence Dissent

By Ida Audeh

07 August, 2007
Countercurrents.org

The charge of anti-Semitism is used by supporters of Israel to silence and discredit voices that conflict with Zionist orthodoxy. Two recent examples illustrate this point: The publication of Jimmy Carter's book Palestine Peace not Apartheid triggered a well-orchestrated campaign of vilification and character assassination of a former president whose "crime" was to characterize Israeli policies in the occupied territories as apartheid. (South African anti-apartheid activists say it is much worse.) The March 2006 publication of John Mearsheimer and Stephen Walt's essay "The Israel Lobby" in the London Review of Books was accompanied by the familiar charge of anti-Semitism directed at two university professors who simply analyzed the disproportionate power of the Israel lobby AIPAC in shaping US Middle East policy. To anyone who follows the US Middle East policy, their conclusions were not news, but the publication of their article unleashed a flood of abuse on two establishment academics.

CLICK HERE FOR FULL ARTICLE


Ida Audeh is a Palestinian-American who lives in Boulder, Colorado. Her interviews with Palestinians who have lost land and their livelihoods to Israel's wall have been published on the Electronic Intifada (www.electronicintifada.net), an alternative source of information about "the question of Palestine, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and the economic, political, legal, and human dimensions of Israel's 40-year occupation of Palestinian territories." She can be reached at idaaudeh@yahoo.com

Lakewood family builds bridges for peace

Lakewood family builds bridges for peace

The road to achieving Middle East peace is being paved - right here in Lakewood. Zenat Shariff Belkin and Mark Belkin and their two daughters, Nadia, 16, and Arriana, 14, have opened their hearts and home to two 16-year-old girls, Tamara, a Palestinian from Jerusalem, and Etti, an Israeli from Ber Sheva.

Tamara and Etti have traveled a long way from the Middle East toColorado to participate along with Nadia Belkin,a junior at Lakewood High School, in the 14 th Annual Building Bridges for Peace 2007, a flagship program of Seeking Common Ground (SCG), a Denver-based non-profit organization which is dedicated to empowering individuals with the skills "to change the world by creating peaceful communities through integration, socialization, communication and leadership development."

Over the past two weeks, the girls have worked diligently together in daily workshops from 8:30-4:30 for the first four days followed by an emotionally intensive week in Allen's Park. They were involved in many activities and projects in the course of the week. Many of the activities, such as "In Your Shoes," encouraged the girls to not only share their feelings, but to better understand the viewpoints of the "enemy" by communicating and connecting with each other. For example, they had to respond to the question, "How do you feel when"...with a variety of endings to the questions such as: "How do you feel when you are called a terrorist?" and "How do you feel when you have to get through a check point?" They learned the importance of listening to each other and finding common grounds and similarities that could help them relate to each other and understand each other. The themes of some other workshops included: Identity, Gender, The Wall, the Army, and September 11 th; all of the workshops helped the girls to express their emotions and inner-most feelings, sometimes causing them to be brutally honest. There were emotional outbursts, shouting, accusing and crying...but it was a starting point, and in order to live together peacefully, they learned that they must first and foremost, communicate.

From Allen's Park, the group returned to Denver for a celebration brunch and final farewell. It was a unique opportunity to witness the progress that had been achieved during the past week. Yara, a Palestinian girl living in Tira, near Tel Aviv, said, "you need to trust a person because he is a person, not a Jew." Lama, a Palestinian girl living in Jerusalem said, "The biggest problem is the lack of communication." Emilyn Inglis, a SCG song leader, said, "It is a time to glimpse into what the other is feeling and recognize our common humanity."

The Building Bridges for Peace program, established in 1994, has grown from 14 participants the first year to 62 present participants from the United States, Israel, and Palestine. At this year's 14th Annual Celebration Brunch, Erin Breeze, the Program Director of Building Bridges for Peace, said this was the first year that men were invited to participate in the program and 16 young men attended this year's program and worked alongside the female leaders in addressing and solving conflicts; it was also the first year that Native Americans were invited to attend in an effort to work on the dispute of the Badlands National Park on the Pine Ridge Reservation. Dr. Paige Baker, who grew up on the Fort Berthel Reservation in North Dakota is the new Superintendent of the Badlands National Park; he is building bridges by working together with respective representatives. This is also the first year that Dr. Ivan Vujacic, Ambassador of Serbia to the United States, joined in the celebration of these amazing young people. At the end of the brunch, the participants sang together on stage, Israelis, Palestinians, Israeli Palestinians, Americans and Native Americans. They were one voice and as Tamara emotionally expressed, "We are one family." There were hugs, embraces and tears as the girls said farewell. The promise of peace was evident in the bridges they had built together- as Nadia explained the inner meaning of the bridge she had created with her group -it wasn't perfect and there were many obstacles and even tragedies along the way, but this bridge held the hope of paving the path for peace .

News from Research Journalism Initiative - Palestine

Research Journalism Initiative
CLICK HERE FOR RJI HOMEPAGE
PO Box 24464, Denver, CO., 80224

RJI News, July 2007

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Hello from Palestine,

Since the beginning of the year, we have been working to establish a direct link between American classrooms and the West Bank of Palestine. By producing documentary films and facilitating live video conferences between Palestinian and American students, we hope to shed light on the realities of life under Occupation.

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Invasion in Nablus - Click Here for video

On June 28th, approximately 100 jeeps invaded the downtown and old city of Nablus as well as the nearby Balata Refugee Camp. The Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) arrested at least 30, killed 1 and blocked the entrance to a hospital. Terrified residents were forced to remain in their homes during the day and a half operation. As the video shows, among the arrested were two medical relief volunteers, who provide medicine and food supplies during times of forced military closure. They were arrested in violation of the 4th Geneva Convention, which allows them access to do their work during such times. Click the [link] above to watch the video.

RJI: Invasion of Nablus Video - Click Here

RJI: Fire during an Incursion Video - Click Here
"The IOF invades Balata camp on almost a daily basis. Sometimes they arrest people or demolish houses and other times they simply taunt residents with loudspeakers or bulldozers, which are always accompanied by a handful of jeeps. They normally come in the early hours of the morning (midnight-3am), however on this particular night they came at 10 pm. The video shows, at best, the army's neglect and at worst, the army's desire to terrorize the camp's residents. The streets emptied when the army arrived and when a fire egnited from an overheated falafel stand, the army refused access to a firetruck until the fire went out. The army used a sound grenade before leaving the camp. Click on the picture to watch the video."

IMEMC: "Massive Israeli forces invade Nablus City, 30 kidnapped, 8 soldiers wounded" - Click Here for Article

IMEMC: "Palestinian killed in Balata refugee camp" - Click Here for Article

Ma'an: "Violent Israeli incursion into Nablus, 8 soldiers reportedly injured" - Click Here for Article

Ma'an: "Israeli forces kill Al-Aqsa member in ongoing Nablus incursion" - Click Here for Article

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The Research Journalism Initiative is dedicated to changing the way students learn about socio-economic, religious and geopolitical conflict by providing students a direct link to regions of conflict abroad. RJI volunteers living in the West Bank produce video documentaries and facilitate live video conferences between Palestinians and high school students in the United States in order to encourage dialogue and present Palestinian points of view in American classrooms. RJI is a non-profit organization funded entirely by individual donations and our own savings; please consider supporting our work by making a contribution.

Thank you for your continued support,
RJI staff
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Support Our Efforts

At this time, RJI is requesting donations to defer the costs of living, travel, internet access and production equipment. If you have the means, a contribution is a very direct way to affect change and work toward a better future here. All donations support our volunteers in the West Bank and enable us to continue producing quality, unique content about the realities of life under occupation. Any amount will make a real difference. Click [HERE] to make a donation.

Join Our Mailing List by Clicking Here!

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Colorado Jews Speak Out Against 40 Years of Occupation

FORTY YEARS OF OCCUPATION

June, 2007 will mark forty years of occupation of Palestinian land by Israel. We, Colorado Jews, are asking our fellow Jews to consider compassionately, and in the spirit of traditional Jewish values, the implications of that occupation for Israel.

Almost three thousand years ago, the two Jewish states of Israel and Judah flourished in an area which is approximately the site of Israel and the West bank today. In 722 B.C, Israel fell to the Assyrians, followed by the demise of Judah in 587 B.C., conquered by the Babylonians...

Today, after forty years of occupation, Israel appears determined to resurrect and recreate its glory days of three millennia ago. To what end? There is certainly no religious rationale. Israeli Jews are among the most secular people in the Middle East, along with the Palestinians. Modern day Israel has little to do with Judaism.

Judaism is not a matter of real estate.

This state of Israel represents a nationalism indistinguishable from two hundred other nationalisms on the planet---including Israel's abominable apartheid policies towards Palestinians on the West Bank.

Israel has illegally expropriated Palestinian land and aquifers, destroyed Palestinian homes and olive groves, and is in the process of destroying the Palestinian people and their culture. Israel's colonization of the West Bank has been called illegal by the World Court. It violates article 49 of the Fourth Geneva Convention: "The Occupying Power shall not deport or transfer parts of its own civilian population into the territory it occupies." It is in default on UN Security Council Resolution 242, which calls for "the establishment of a just and lasting peace in the Middle East" to be achieved by the application of the following: "Withdrawal of Israeli armed forces from territories occupied in the recent conflict [1967]..."

How is it possible that sixty-five years after Auschwitz, Jews are oppressing another people?

The occupation comes with a significant cost to Israel: A report by the Adva Centre in Tel Aviv says, "The second intifada has hurt Israel deeply, resulting in a cessation of economic growth, in a lowering of the standard of living, in the debilitating of its social services, in the dilution of its safety net, and an increase in the extent and depth of poverty... As unemployment has risen and poverty widened, many social benefits have been sharply reduced, including a cut of almost a third in income support for the poor and single mothers. The most tangible outcome has been the mushrooming of soup kitchens and of 'hand-out' societies, previously unknown in Israel except in the Orthodox Jewish communities." Israel spent billions building settlements, the report says. "This is money that was diverted from the internal social agenda," the author,
Shlomo Swirski, writes. By 2003, 20% of Israelis were living below the poverty line.

More important than the above, however, is the corrosive and corrupting effect on Israeli society and Jewish values by a brutal occupation.

We appeal to our fellow Jews to think long and hard about support for Israel's present policies towards Palestinians. Something more than a visceral, tribal response is necessary. This is a crie de coeur. We ask you to join us. Our position---a just and equitable peace with the Palestinians---is the single best step Israel can take for its own security and peace in accord with traditional Jewish values of social justice.

Mark Cohen, Barbara Cohen, Irving Greenbaum, Judy Goldstock, SK Levin, Dennie Linn,
Sheila Linn, Leslie Lomas, Rob Prince, Phil Shane, Evan Weissmann, [John Sigler]

On this day - April 27 - in Palestinian history

April 27, 1948: Zionist forces attacked the villages Yaffa, occupying Salameh, Yazur and others, expelling about 5,000 Palestinians as part of Al Nakba

April 27, 1948: Zionist forces invaded and captured the suburbs of Al Quds (Jerusalem) taking the quarters of Katamon, the German Colony, and the upper Bakaa; expelling about 30,000 Palestinians as part of Al Nakba

April 27, 1996: The Lebanese cease fire goes into effect.

April 27, 2000: At the PFLP Congress in Damascus, George Habash – the Christian Palestinian founder of the PFLP – announces his retirement from the organization. Abu Ali Mustafa is expected to replace him as leader of the Popular Front.

April 27, 2001: The IDF opens fire on Palestinians near the northern entrance of El Bira City after Friday Noon prayers, wounding dozens. Al Quds (Jerusalem) was closed by the military to prevent Palestinians from praying at Al Aqsa Mosque. In Gaza, near Rafah and also at El Mughazi refugee camp in central Gaza, IDF bulldozers continued to the razing of Palestinian agricultural land in order to promote starvation. At Khan Younis refugee camp in Gaza, Ismail Abu Romia, 40, was shot six times by IDF forces based inside the Kosofim settlement and then abducted by them, taken to an unknown location. Settlers attack Palestinian property in Haris. A roadside bomb explodes near a settlement in gaza, injuring one IDF soldier and one settler.

April 27, 2002: The IDF opened artillery fire on the Christian Palestinian town of Bethlehem, attacking Dahaisha and Khadder as well as destroying stores and restaurants near the Church of the Nativity. At the same time, IDF forces attacked a number of peaceful Palestinian villages west of Occupied Al Khalil (Hebron). The IDF opened fire on a completely peaceful demonstration protesting the Israeli siege of President Arafat’s compound in Ramallah, wounding eight. Northwest of Ramallah, the IDF opened fire on the El Nabi Saleh primary school, terrifying the Palestinian children under fire. In Gaza, the IDF opened random fire on Palestinians in Rafah, wounding at least three. In the process of the random massacre of Palestinians in Rafah, Mohammed S. al-Debbis, 19, was murdered by IDF terrorists. In Jericho, Billal A Khadder, 27, was abducted by IDF terror forces and taken to an unknown location. Two Hamas gunmen, dressed in IDF uniforms, raid Adora settlement, killing five settlers and wounding another seven.

April 27, 2003: The IDF attacked the village of Kufur Ne’ma, west of Ramallah, abducting Fadi R. Za’roor, 17, and Mohammed Za’roor, 16. In Gaza, the IDF raided the al-Sattar al-Gharbi area, northwest of Khan Younis, abducting two brothers: Osama al-Jallad, 23, and Mohammad al-Jallad, 24. The martyr Khaled M. Jaro’, 23, already murdered by occupation forces was laid to rest at Rafah. A gang of 20 armed settlers, accompanied by the Tourism Minister, Benny Elon, attack two Palestinian homes in East Al Quds (Jerusalem), seriously injuring four Palestinians. The Israeli police intervene to stop the settler assault on the Palestinians but do not bother to arrest the attacking settlers because they are doing nothing more than participating in the Israeli national pastime – beating defenseless Palestinians.

April 27, 2004: The IDF murdered Islam Hashen Razaq Zahran, aged 13, of Deir abu-Mashal, near Ramallah. Youg Islam died of head wounds sustained April 18 from an IDF “rubber-coated” bullet while throwing stones at an observation tower section of the Apartheid Wall. This was part of Israel’s deliberate and systematic campaign to exterminate Palestinian children. Otherwise the IDF attacked the al-Sudanya area northwest of Gaza City as well as Al-Buraij refugee camp. In an attack on Tulkarem refugee camp (northern W. Bank), Israeli forces wounded 15, including one critically (Imad R. al-Dameeri, 17). The martyr Mossa I. al-Mqayad, 14, previously murdered by Israeli forces was laid to rest in Jabalya refugee camp. The IDF attacked Thabet Thabet Hospital, abducting Mohammed M. Mqaitash, 19. Unidentified Palestinians raid a Hamas hideout trying to steal explosives, resulting in a gunfight that leaves two attackers and one Hamas fighter dead in Gaza.In the Gush Katif settlement in gaza, some 70,000 illegal settlers and their allies demonstrate against Sharon’s “disengagement” scheme.

April 27, 2005: The IDF conducts abduction raids in Askar and Balata refugee camps and fires on residential areas near Rafah. Some 40,000 Israeli settlers and allies protest in Neve Dekalim settlement against the “disengagement” scheme. Palestinians fire 2 rockets and three mortars at the Neve Dekalim demonstration lightly injuring two IDF soldiers. Settlers from Karnei Shomron settlement uproot some 300 Palestinian olive trees near the settlement with full sanction of the Israeli government.

April 27, 2006: The IDF attempted an extrajudicial assassination of Palestinians allegedly connected to the “Islamic Jihad” organization killing Wa’el Ibrahim Mutair al-Qara’an, 27 and Ahmad Abu Nijim and wounding four others. The IDF also reinvades Nablus and Askar refugee camp and Jenin.

Emigration from Israel exceeds immigration, report

Emigration from Israel exceeds immigration, report
Deutsche Presse-Agentur (dpa), 04/20/2007


Tel Aviv (dpa) - In Israel, the number of emigrants exceeded the number of immigrants for the first time in 20 years, the Israeli daily Yediot Ahronot reported Friday. Many emigrants were recent arrivals who wanted to leave Israel again, the report said. In 2007, 14,400 immigrants are expected in Israel while 20,000 people are expected to leave the country, according to the report based on figures for the first months of 2007. The last time emigration exceeded immigration was in the aftermath of the 1973 Yom Kippur War and in 1983 and 1984 when inflation was high.

Meanwhile the Maariv newspaper reported that approximately a quarter of the Israeli population was considering emigration. Almost half of the country's young people were thinking of leaving the country, the report said. Their reasons included dissatisfaction with the government, the education system, a lack of confidence in the political ruling class and concern over the security situation.

40 Years of Occupation: A Global Action Call

June 2007 marks the 40-year anniversary of Israel's occupation of East Jerusalem, the West Bank, Gaza Strip and the Syrian Golan Heights.

The ICNP (International Coordination Network on Palestine) has launched during last year's annual UN civil society conference on the inalienable rights of the Palestinian people a global Call for Action Days on June 9-10, 2007, under the banner, "The World Says No to Israeli Occupation." The call demands an end to occupation and the realization of the inalienable rights of the Palestinian people, including the right to self-determination, the right to return and the right to establish an independent, sovereign Palestinian state with its capital in Jerusalem.

Please, join the hundreds organizations, networks and groups worldwide that are mobilizing for June 9/10 and let us know about your actions. (See below.)

"We are building nonviolent global campaigns of Boycotts, Divestment and Sanctions, and we will work on a wide range of educational and cultural campaigns, all culminating in the Global Days of Action. We will insist that governments all over the globe stop providing military, economic, diplomatic and corporate support for Israel's illegal occupation, and instead create new foreign policies that will support an end to occupation, equal rights for all, and a comprehensive, just and lasting peace."

If you have prepared any activist and info material (posters, stickers, leaflets etc.) that want to share with others so that they can adjust them to their local circumstances, please send them to ICNPcall@gmail.com. We will prepare a selection of material that we will publish and disseminate.

Please circulate this mail as widely as possible.
Thank you for your support to Justice in Palestine!

Maren Karlitzky
(Palestinian grassroots Anti-Apartheid Wall Campaign - outreach)
http://www.stopthewall.org/

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Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott (PACBI)
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April 22, 2007
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PACBI Press Release
Statement on Visits of International Delegations and Individuals to the OPT and Israel
PACBI | April 15, 2007

At a time when the international movement to isolate Israel is gaining ground in response to the escalation of Israel's colonial and racist policies, we respectfully urge conscientious academics, artists and intellectuals from around the world, including those who visit the occupied Palestinian territory (OPT), to refrain from visiting Israel to participate in any event or encounter that is not explicitly dedicated to ending Israel's illegal occupation and other forms of oppression. Regardless of intentions, such visits only contribute to the prolongation of injustice by normalizing and thereby legitimizing it, and inadvertently support Israel's efforts to appear as a "normal" participant in the "civilized" world of science, scholarship and art while at the same time practicing a pernicious form of apartheid against Palestinians.

Calls for Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions
130 UK Physicians Call for a Boycott of the Israeli Medical Association and its expulsion from the World Medical Association | Guardian | April 21, 2007

In a letter appearing in the Guardian on April 21, 2007, prominent UK physicians have called for a boycott of the IMA and its expulsion from the WMA. The letter follows:

Norwegian Socialist Left Party renews support for BDS
| Socialist Left Party | The Socialist Left Party (SV), one of three parties in the Norwegian Government, has renewed its support for sanctions against Israel. The Party's Congress adopted 25th of March unanimously a resolution named "Sanctions against the Occupier - not the occupied."

NUJ votes to boycott Israeli goods
Stephen Brook | The Guardian | April 13, 2007
The National Union of Journalists has voted at its annual meeting for a boycott of Israeli goods as part of a protest against last year's war in Lebanon.

Jews for Boycotting Israel: A New Initiative
Ruth Tenne | The Palestine Chronicle | April 2, 2007
The latest report of the International Development Select Committee regarding the Occupied Palestinian Territories (31 January 2007) makes for very distressing reading. In its section on trade, it refers to the ongoing restrictions in movements and access faced by the OPT, citing an OXFAM report which points out "that transaction costs for Palestinians wishing to export products are up to 70% higher than for Israelis exporting the same product. This market benefit is also true of products produced by Israeli settlers in the West Bank who can get direct access to markets in or through Israel without the disruptive road blocks and back-to-back transfers faced by the Palestinians.

Cultural Boycott
Letter from PACBI to the Irish Academy of Artists (Aosdana)
PACBI | April 22, 2007
To the Members of Aosdána,
The Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott (PACBI) would like to thank Aosdána and its members for their adoption of a recent motion ...

June 10 Protest Is Coming—We Need Your Help Today!

US Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation
June 10 Protest Is Coming—We Need Your Help Today!

Imagine thousands of people massing at our nation's Capitol demanding an end to US support for Israel's illegal military occupation of Palestinian lands.

Imagine thousands of people marching to the White House calling for a just peace between Palestinians and Israelis.

Imagine hundreds of people converging on Capitol Hill to meet with their Members of Congress to demand a change in our government's policy.

Imagine millions of people being educated about the harsh realities of life for Palestinians living under Israeli military occupation through billboard campaigns and posters.

These are some of the things that will happen between now and June 10 when the US Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation and United for Peace and Justice organize a two-day mobilization in Washington, DC to protest 40 years of Israel's illegal military occupation of the Palestinian West Bank, East Jerusalem, and Gaza Strip.

But we can't do all of this without your support. We have the opportunity to put together the largest demonstration ever in the history of the United States in support of Palestinian human rights and a just peace between Palestinians and Israelis. Please help to make this a reality by making the most generous tax-deductible contribution you can today by clicking here:

Thanks to the generosity of our supporters, we're a little more than 2/3 of the way toward our goal of raising $25,000 by the end of April to support this mobilization. Please help us reach our goal today by making the most generous tax-deductible contribution you can today by clicking here:

Here are some examples of how your donation will help us:

• Your donation of $25 lets us print more than 800 full-color postcards. We've distributed more than 75,000 postcards around the country so far!
• Your donation of $50 lets us send 10 organizing packets to our hundreds of endorsing organizations and volunteer organizers around the country
• Your donation of $100 lets us print more than 800 full-color 11X17 mobilizing posters
• Your donation of $500 lets us print 25 gigantic ads for the Washington, DC metro system

For a limited time, everyone who donates $25 or more will receive a free set of six anti-apartheid posters. These full-color, glossy, 18X24 inch posters are union-made and suitable to frame. Click here to view the poster set

Please make your generous tax-deductible donation today!

For more information about the mobilization, including the schedule of events and logistical information, downloadable organizing resources, a list of endorsing organizations, and much, much more, click here.

Thank you in advance for making your generous tax-deductible contribution today by clicking here

Please note that we can also take tax-deductible contributions by credit card over the phone. Our phone number is 202-332-0994. We can also accept tax-deductible contributions by check made out to the US Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation, PO Box 21539, Washington, DC 20009.

We'll see you in Washington, DC on June 10-11!

CNI Foundation Ads in the New York Times

The sixth of six full-page New York Times advertisements published by the Council for the National Interest Foundation in the last year will run opposite the editorial page in this Sunday's, April 22nd, "Week in Review" section of the Times.

You can also view the ad as a PDF or JPG file on our new CNI Foundation website by clicking either of the following links:

* Speaker Pelosi: After Damascus... Tehran? (PDF) 824 Kb
* Speaker Pelosi: After Damascus... Tehran? (JPG) 956 Kb

You can see all six of the full-page ads published in the New York Times over the last year on our new website by clicking on the following link:

* CNI Foundation Newspaper Ads

Speaker Pelosi: After Damascus... Tehran?

SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE NANCY PELOSI should be applauded for taking a bipartisan group of Congressmen to Damascus to talk with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. Her visit, which was sharply criticized by President Bush and Vice President Cheney, was clearly in the national interest.

Taking a tip from the Iraq Study Group Report, Speaker Pelosi acted responsibly to encourage change in the U.S. foreign policy dynamic in the Middle East. For the last six years, the region has reeled under the impact of war and counterinsurgency in Iraq, Afghanistan, Palestine, and more recently Lebanon. Talking to the head of state of Syria marks a promising beginning of greater realism, less ideology in the conduct of foreign policy.

Opening up a congressional dialogue with the Iranians is the next logical step. Only by talking to all parties concerned can solutions be found to the difficult and complex issues in Iraq and elsewhere in the region.

Continuing on to Riyadh, Speaker Pelosi gave important and needed recognition by the American people to King Abdullah's extraordinary effort to reopen the moribund Arab-Israeli peace process, so crudely ignored by Israeli Prime Minister Olmert and President Bush. To try to end the callous suffering of the Palestinian people, the king successfully intervened earlier in the year to resolve the differences between Hamas and Fatah and to bring about a unity government. This should have allowed the resumption of foreign aid.

Bush: 'Forget it; I am NOT speaking to any Democrats!'

That has not happened. During her entire Middle East tour, Speaker Pelosi never once called for a clear start of negotiations for resolving the core issue confronting Middle East peace - the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. As the Iraq Study Group Report states, "The United States does its ally Israel no favors in avoiding direct involvement to solve the Arab-Israeli conflict." The Israelis continue to undermine prospects for peace by constructing the separation or Apartheid wall, expanding Jewish colonies in the West Bank, annexing Palestinian land around Jerusalem, and destroying Palestinian homes in the occupied territories.

Can we have any hope that the Speaker will now show as much courage on the Palestinian issue as she has shown in going to Damascus? But First Deal With Israeli Apartheid in Palestine!

PRESIDENT JIMMY CARTER caused an uproar by daring to title his recent bestseller about Israeli policy in the occupied West Bank and Gaza "Palestine Peace Not Apartheid." Before the book was even published, Speaker Pelosi joined other Democrats in condemning Carter's use of the word Apartheid, which he defined as the "forced separation of two peoples in the same territory with one of the groups dominating or controlling the other."

As former Israeli Minister of Education Shulamit Aloni argues, "The U.S. Jewish establishment's onslaught on former President Jimmy Carter is based on him daring to tell the truth which is known to all: through its army, the government of Israel practices a brutal form of Apartheid in the occupied territories. Its army has turned every Palestinian village and town into a fenced-in, or blocked-in, detention camp."

On June 9th the world will mark the 40th anniversary of Israel's oppressive military occupation of Palestine - the longest occupation in modern history. Yet the U.S. government continues to fund, support and even encourage Israel's policy of colonization, Apartheid, and imprisonment of the Palestinians.

Olmert: 'Mirror, mirror on the Apartheid wall...'

Israel has turned Gaza and the West Bank into open-air prisons. Only Jewish people are allowed to live in Israeli settlements in the West Bank - housing that is highly subsidized by the U.S. taxpayer, at the rate of $500 million per year. Israel's intimidating wall, built on Palestinian land, separates Palestinians and their goods from Israelis, from the outside world, and, most perversely, from 100,000 other Palestinians living on the "wrong" side of the wall.

Among a population of 2.5 million Palestinians on the West Bank, Israel has strategically placed nearly 500,000 Jewish settlers, supported by a vast network of settler-only bypass roads and military checkpoints that crisscross the territory, making a two-state solution to the conflict impossible. It is a simple grab for land and water.

The military and political domination of Palestinian Muslims and Christians by Israel's Jewish population could not continue without U.S. support, including $3 billion in annual military aid from U.S. taxpayers. Meanwhile, U.S.-imposed sanctions on the Palestinians have led to skyrocketing unemployment in the occupied territories. More than two-thirds of Palestinians now live in poverty. Such senseless sanctions on an entire people are a violation by the U.S. and Israel of the Geneva Convention's prohibition on collective punishment.

Speaker Pelosi must make the step that the Bush Administration has so far been unwilling to take and insist that resolving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict must be a central component of our foreign policy. That would be an honest step towards ending our quagmire in the Middle East.

Council for the National Interest Foundation
1250 4th Street SW, Suite WG-1 · Washington, DC 20024
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To make a tax-deductible contribution to the Council for the National Interest Foundation click here:

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Council for the National Interest Foundation
1250 4th Street SW, Suite WG-1
Washington, District of Columbia 20024
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http://www.cnifoundation.org/

Progressive Democrats launch new website about Palestine

PDA Launches Website to Foster Debate on U.S. Israel/Palestine Policy

Inspired by journalist Nicholas Kristof’s March 18, 2007 column in the New York Times regarding the need to discuss and debate US policy towards Israel, PDA has launched a new web site demanding that Senators Obama, Edwards, and Clinton, Vice President Gore, and all other Democratic Party candidates stand up for peace and justice in Israel and Palestine, even when it requires standing up to the “Israel Right-or-Wrong” Lobby and the lobby's friends inside the Democratic Party.This new web site - www.thankyoukristof.org - is helping to break the silence on behalf of Democratic Party activists and others disturbed by the absence of any meaningful debate on Israel policies among their Party’s leaders. PDA is the only national group of Democrats to openly break ranks with AIPAC and the “Israel Right-or-Wrong” Lobby over US policy towards Israel and Palestine, and has demanded the US adopt an evenhanded policy in the Middle East in contrast to both President Bush and Democratic Party leadership.

You can help foster this debate by visiting the thankyoukristof.org web site and also by signing a Petition - Sign the petition! demanding an open debate and review on all levels and by all candidates regarding U.S. policies toward Israel and Palestine.

Read Kristof's article - Talking About Israel.
To participate in a blog about this issue go to The Blog
Read more about PDA's position on Israel/Palestine.

Colorado Jews say NO! to war on Iran

Don't do it. Don't Attack Iran
Rocky Mountain News - Click Here for Link
Thursday, March 1 at 12:01 AM

Statement of a Group of Colorado Jews

We, the undersigned, all Colorado Jews, are worried about a U.S. and/or Israeli attack on Iran.

The military components for such an attack have been put in place over the past six months. We, who only a few generations ago, witnessed our families in Europe turned into ashes in Auschwitz, Buchenwald and Sachenhausen, look with unparalleled horror at the prospect of either the US or Israel using tactical nuclear weapons. We fear the consequences of such a strike could trigger a wider regional conflict, with the shadow - the genuine possibility - of world war in the offing.

The ratcheting up of anti-Iranian rhetoric in the media, the spreading of half -truths about the nature of the Iranian regime, its role in Iraq, the disinformation campaign about its plans to develop nuclear energy - all are reminiscent of the build-up to the -invasion and occupation of Iraq. Recent position papers from rightwing think-tanks suggest that Iran be dissolved into some kind of federated state -- a scheme suspiciously similar to the emerging re-division of Iraq into ethno-religious enclaves, a form of divide-and-rule to more easily control oil production.

We also know, sadly, that the forces pushing for a military confrontation include some major American Jewish organizations - AIPAC, the ADL and the AJC among them, all of whom have lobbied hard with the neo-cons in power for yet another war. For many years, these same groups echoed the US and Israeli governments' support for the Shah of Iran as a foil against Arab countries like Iraq in the era before the Islamic revolution in Iran.

In the same way that most opponents of the current war in Iraq never supported Saddam Hussein's repressive regime (while US governments did for decades), we are not defenders or supporters of the Islamic Republic of Iran, which also enjoyed the military backing of the US during the war Saddam launched in the 1980s. We abhor its current president's purposely provocative statements to deny the Holocaust. Despite his fiery anti-Israeli rhetoric, we note that Iran has not attacked any of its neighbors for 200 years and has shown no intention of changing course. Nor is there as yet any evidence that it is building nuclear weapons.

Rationally, a war against Iran makes no sense - except to line the pockets of war-profiteers and Big Oil at the expense of the rest of us.

The US is bogged down in a losing and morally repugnant war in Iraq. The November, 2006 elections were a clear signal that the people of this country have had enough of Bush's War. Although it failed to address the central question of the US military occupation the bipartisan Iraq Study Group Report issued in December of last year, acknowledged the failure of the neo-con strategy. Yet the ruling elite wants to expand that blunder by preparing to attack Iran.

Nor does such a war make sense for Israel, bogged down after 40 years' occupation of the West Bank and Gaza, unable to find a formula to equitably share land and resources with the Palestinians. We are convinced that Israel's future is made less - not more - secure by its military imposition of one-sided division of the spoils of war. In the end, Israel's security can only come by normalizing its relations with its neighbors. It cannot do that until its resolves the Palestinian question. Launching a war against Iran will further endanger Israeli security, not guarantee it.

We consider an attack on Iran, disguised as a "pre-emptive" war or a fabricated provocation, as criminally insane, its consequences predictably inhumane. The massive bombing campaign now off the drawing board and in the works, no matter how "precision-guided", will kill thousands of civilians. A US-Israeli attack could destroy Iran as a nation and a civilization.

While we do not underestimate the difficulties of negotiating with Iran, we call on our government and the government of Israel to stop this march to war and to enter into negotiations with Iran to freeze and reverse the nuclearization of the Middle East and to address all other outstanding issues without preconditions. Both Israel and Iran have to accept each other's existence.

We call on all people, in the Jewish Community and beyond, to help stop this terrifying drive for war. War is not the answer.

Don't do it. Don't Attack Iran

Signed by: Mark Belkin - Lakewood Field Director, American Federation of Teachers, Colorado; Ira Chernus - Boulder; Alan Gilbert - Conifer John Evans Professor. Grad School of Intrntnl Studies, DU; Denny Linn - Vail; Sheila Linn - Vail; Leslie Lomas - Boulder; Rob Prince - Denver; Vicki Rottman - Denver; Juliet Wittman - Boulder; Evan Weismann - Denver

Lots of new video from Palestine for distribution

West Bank Update - Please Distribute Widely - March 24, 2007

Hello from Palestine,

Since the beginning of the year, we have been working to establish a direct link between American classrooms and the West Bank of Palestine. By producing documentary films and facilitating live video conferences between Palestinian and American students, we hope to shed light on the realities of life under Occupation. In the coming weeks, we will be sending newsletters like this one to catch everyone up on our last several months here. Below are links to three short films about the recent Israeli invasion into Nablus, dubbed "Operation Hot Winter." Please visit our website and blog for more from RJI.

Operation "Hot Winter" - Feb 25
Soldiers in the Old City of Nablus
Feb. 25, 2007 - Ma'an News Agency- Israeli occupation forces initiated a huge operation in Nablus, in the occupied Palestinian West Bank, considered to be the biggest operation there in two years. Ma'an's correspondent reported that more than 60 Israeli military vehicles and several bulldozers entered the city and imposed curfew. Click picture to download the video from RJI.

Operation "Hot Winter" - Feb 26
Soldiers in the Old City of Nablus
Israeli Military vehicles, accompanied by bulldozers, moved into Nablus on Feb 25 and imposed a city-wide curfew. IOF soldiers transformed a number of civilian homes into military bases and bulldozers divided Nablus in half by placing sand barriers and cement blocks on the main access roads into the city. Click picture to download the video from RJI.

Operation "Hot Winter" - Feb 28
Israeli bulldozer in the Old City of Nablus
After temporarily withdrawing part of their troops from Nablus, the Isrsaeli Occupation Forces (IOF) re-invaded the city around 2 a.m. on Wednesday morning, February 28, 2007. Since then, the IOF have resumed their operation in the Old City and the Ras al-Ein area right above it. Click on the picture to download the video from RJI

The Research Journalism Initiative is dedicated to changing the way students learn about socio-economic, religious and geopolitical conflict by providing students a direct link to regions of conflict abroad. RJI volunteers living in the West Bank produce video documentaries and facilitate live video conferences between Palestinians and high school students in the United States in order to encourage dialogue and present Palestinian points of view in American classrooms. RJI is a non-profit organization funded entirely by individual donations and our own savings; please consider supporting our work by making a contribution.

Thank you for your continued support,

Mark Turner
Research Journalism Initiative

Support Our Efforts - Children in Balata Camp
At this time, RJI is requesting donations to defer the costs of living, travel, internet access and production equipment. If you have the means, a contribution is a very direct way to affect change and work toward a better future here. All donations support our volunteers in the West Bank and enable us to continue producing quality, unique content about the realities of life under occupation. Any amount will make a real difference. Click HERE to make a donation.

RJI Homepage - Click Here
RJI Films - Click Here
RJI Blog - Click Here
RJI Contact - Click Here

Video from Ongoing Israeli attack on Nablus

Hello Everyone,

As you are likely aware, on February 25 2007, the Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) invaded the West Bank city of Nablus in an operation dubbed, "Hot Winter." The military operation has so far concentrated on the Yasmine and Qariyon neighborhoods in the Nablus Old City. Tens
of thousands of people were confined to their homes while the Israeli army raided dozens of houses and detained and arrested scores of people. Israeli forces had withdrawn from the streets by Tuesday morning, though Special Force Units are believed to remain in occupied
houses within the city. The army has warned that the operation is likely to continue for several more days.

Here are the links to video footage from the first two days of the operation by independent media activists in Nablus. Both short films are joint productions of the Research Journalism Initiative (RJI) and "a-films, palestine."

February 25, 2007

For downloading: (good quality): HERE
For streaming: (low quality): HERE

February 26, 2007

For downloading (good quality): HERE
For watching (low quality): HERE

The authors can be contacted at ripplescross@yahoo.com and a-films@no-
log.org.

Israeli Policy Makes a Two-State Solution Less Likely

Israeli Policy Makes a Two-State Solution Less Likely
Summary of CNI Foundation "Public Hearing" with Jeff Halper and Naim Ateek

By Carlton Cobb
February 16, 2007

Two Israeli peace activists told an audience in Washington, DC, this week that, as long as current Israeli policies continue, a real two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is increasingly unlikely and perhaps impossible. The speakers were the Rev. Dr. Naim Ateek, founder and director of the Sabeel Ecumenical Liberation Theology Center in Jerusalem, and Jeff Halper, founder and coordinator of the Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions (ICAHD). Halper and Ateek spoke at the National Press Club on Monday, February 12th, 2007, at the CNI Foundation's 22nd "public hearing" to bring a much-needed debate about U.S. Middle East policy to Washington, DC.

A streaming video of the event can be seen online HERE

Halper stated that his background as an anthropologist taught him to see things "from the ground up" and to "go where the field takes him," even if it means he has to ocasionally admit that he is wrong. As a peace activist, Halper said he believes that while a "two-state solution" to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is an article of faith among Israelis, Palestinians, and virtually every other party involved or interested in the conflict, activists should admit that such an outcome is no longer possible because of Israel's policy of apartheid in the territories. He said that this position has made him a pariah among American groups, such as Americans for Peace Now and the Foundation for Middle East Peace, who refuse to host him for public talks.

In short, Halper said that the two-state solution is a "political program based on wishful thinking." He said he defines the word "apartheid" the same way as Jimmy Carter does in his book "Palestine Peace Not Apartheid": a separation of populations in which one people structurally and conceptually dominates the other permanently. One difference between Israeli apartheid and that of South Africa, Halper notes, is that Israel "feels like it can finesse a bantustan [for the Palestinians] in a way that South Africa could not."

As evidence he pointed to what he calls Israel's "matrix of control" in the occupied territories. The population of the Jewish-only settlements has more than doubled since Yasser Arafat's PLO recognized Israel, and thus endorsed the two-state solution, in 1988. The wall, the military checkpoints, and Israeli "bypass roads" criss-cross the West Bank and allow settlers easy travel, while carving up the territory and preventing Palestinian freedom of movement. Halper hinted at an alternative solution to the two-state model, which he calls a "two-stage" solution, based on an economic federation of Israel/Palestine and neighboring states.

Rev. Ateek cited scripture's command to "do justice and love mercy" as a reason why he once advocated for one state in Palestine, where, he said, "Jews, Muslims, and Christians can live together democratically." Later, he said he came to see that a one-state solution "may not be fair for a Jewish state," but that "a 'Jewish state' cannot be democratic." As a Palestinian Christian, he argued that, in the same way, an Islamic state in Palestine would not be democratic for the Christian minority. A one-state solution to the conflict would represent "justice without mercy."

As long as the final outcome is based on prior UN Security Council resolutions and international law, Ateek said that he would support a two-state solution. Specifically, he said that any solution must address the current disconnect between nationality and citizenship in the conflict. For example, he argued that Palestinians who live in Israel with Israeli citizenship, like himself, are not considered part of Israeli society, just as Israeli settlers living in the West Bank do not consider themselves Palestinian. He stated that he would tell the Israeli settlers, under any future agreement, "You are welcome to become Palestinians," but that until then, they are living illegally on Palestinian land. Any arrangement that takes justice and mercy as its basis must "protect the sovereignty of both states," which includes keeping "Palestinians secure from encroachment from their more powerful neighbor."

The event was sponsored by the Council for the National Interest Foundation and the Washington Interfaith Alliance for Middle East Peace. The moderator was Dr. Mark Braverman, board member of the Washington Interfaith Alliance on Middle East Peace and board member of Partners for Peace.

To make a tax-deductible contribution to the Council for the National Interest Foundation click here:

Donate Now!
Council for the National Interest Foundation
1250 4th Street SW, Suite WG-1
Washington, District of Columbia 20024
202-863-2951
http://www.cnionline.org/