Hypocrisy Week

This week is Israel Apartheid Week. I have already written about why Israel isn't an apartheid state. But here is the reason in the flesh - Ishmael Khaldi, the Israeli deputy counsel general in San Francisco, and as the name suggest he's not Jewish but an Arab Bedouin writing for the Chronicle newspaper:

For those who haven't heard, the first week in March has been designated as Israel Apartheid Week by activists who are either ill intentioned or misinformed. On American campuses, organizing committees are planning happenings to once again castigate Israel as the lone responsible party for all that maligns the Middle East.

Last year, at UC Berkeley, I had the opportunity to "dialogue" with some of the organizers of these events. My perspective is unique, both as the vice consul for Israel in San Francisco, and as a Bedouin and the highest-ranking Muslim representing the Israel in the United States. I was born into a Bedouin tribe in Northern Israel, one of 11 children, and began life as shepherd living in our family tent. I went on to serve in the Israeli border police, and later earned a master's degree in political science from Tel Aviv University before joining the Israel Foreign Ministry.

I am a proud Israeli - along with many other non-Jewish Israelis such as Druze, Bahai, Bedouin, Christians and Muslims, who live in one of the most culturally diversified societies and the only true democracy in the Middle East. Like America, Israeli society is far from perfect, but let us deals honestly. By any yardstick you choose - educational opportunity, economic development, women and gay's rights, freedom of speech and assembly, legislative representation - Israel's minorities fare far better than any other country in the Middle East

So, I would like to share the following with organizers of Israel Apartheid week, for those of them who are open to dialogue and not blinded by a hateful ideology:

You are part of the problem, not part of the solution: If you are really idealistic and committed to a better world, stop with the false rhetoric. We need moderate people to come together in good faith to help find the path to relieve the human suffering on both sides of the Israel-Palestinian conflict. Vilification and false labeling is a blind alley that is unjust and takes us nowhere.

You deny Israel the fundamental right of every society to defend itself: You condemn Israel for building a security barrier to protect its citizens from suicide bombers and for striking at buildings from which missiles are launched at its cities - but you never offer an alternative. Aren't you practicing yourself a deep form of racism by denying an entire society the right to defend itself?

Your criticism is willfully hypocritical: Do Israel's Arab citizens suffer from disadvantage? You better believe it. Do African Americans 10 minutes from the Berkeley campus suffer from disadvantage - you better believe it, too. So should we launch a Berkeley Apartheid Week, or should we seek real ways to better our societies and make opportunity more available.

You are betraying the moderate Muslims and Jews who are working to achieve peace: Your radicalism is undermining the forces for peace in Israel and in the Palestinian territories. We are working hard to move toward a peace agreement that recognizes the legitimate rights of both Israel and the Palestinian people, and you are tearing down by falsely vilifying one side.

To the organizers of Israel Apartheid Week I would like to say:

If Israel were an apartheid state, I would not have been appointed here, nor would I have chosen to take upon myself this duty. There are many Arabs, both within Israel and in the Palestinian territories who have taken great courage to walk the path of peace. You should stand with us, rather than against us.

The poster up top is a "spoof [which] shows the same boy being used as a shield by militants launching rockets at Israel, while journalists film the boy.

It was created by Australia-born David Guy, 54, from Rehovot, and his son's best friend, 23-year-old Guy Gurfinkel from Shoham, who will
begin studies at the Bezalel Academy of Arts next year. "

Ni’lin pays tribute to Jewish victims of the Holocaust

You don't see this everyday:

BETHLEHEM – Every Friday, the West Bank village of Ni'lin is home to some of the most violent clashes between Israeli soldiers and Palestinian, Israeli and international demonstrators.

Each week, activists from the village's Land Defence Committee stage demonstrations at the Separation Barrier which cuts off as much as half the village's farmland and water from its inhabitants.

As a reporter for a Palestinian news agency in Bethlehem, I too travelled to Ni'lin, but last weekend beheld a spectacle perhaps more remarkable than these weekly Barrier protests: Villagers had set up an exhibition to coincide with the United Nations-declared International Holocaust Remembrance Day on 27 January, an exhibition organised by Ni'lin's Popular Committee Against the Wall.

Hassan Moussa, the exhibition's organiser, spoke to me over the phone from Ni'lin. And despite the hot-headed rhetoric coming from both sides that weekend (a number of protesters were tear-gassed just hours before), Moussa explained that the exhibit was organised with the most noble of intentions.

"This is a way of extending our sympathy for the Jews," and the Palestinians' way of extending that sympathy "to the Israeli people, themselves," he says.

"Nobody thinks war will lead to peace and security. It will lead to more violence and hatred and agony, as well as suffering to this area, which is neither in our interest, nor the Israelis."

Since late January the people of Ni'lin have opted to complement their demonstrations with something "to show the Israelis that we feel sorry for them."

As a Palestinian activist, Moussa says he also wants to convey his suffering: "My suffering will not lead to peace. When I lose my land, it's like losing your heart from your body."

The village's Municipality hosted the Holocaust Remembrance Exhibition at its headquarters in Ni'lin, where organisers say more than 1,000 visitors have paid tribute to the victims of Nazi atrocities committed against Europe’s Jews.

The exhibition of posters and texts, provided by an Israeli Holocaust museum, details "the genocide that was committed against the Jewish people during the 1930s and 1940s in Germany and in other parts of Europe," Moussa explains.

"We admit that there was terrible pain inflicted on the Jewish people as a result of this genocide," he says. "We are feeling sorry for this genocide.”

Moussa added that "the Palestinians have no connection at all with that genocide… It is our fate to live on this land so we have to live in peace—only peace can bring security," he explains.

"We feel sorry for you," Moussa says when pressed for his message to the Israeli people. "Our hand is extended in peace; we are ready to make peace with the Israeli government."

"We want peace for the people of Israel, and the people of Palestine and the people of the world, as well," he says. "This is our way to express this message; it is our message to the whole world."

The exhibit is not only intended for Israelis, though a number have attended. "Frankly speaking, the people who came and visited the exhibition, [for the] first time saw something about this genocide," Moussa says. "They heard some from their history books, but this is the first time they saw the pictures."

The most common Palestinian reaction after seeing the horrifying images, Moussa tells me, is that "they feel sorry; they feel really sorry for the [Jews], once they see the posters."

One in five of the village's 5,000 residents are estimated to have viewed the exhibition, with hundreds more from Israel and elsewhere in the West Bank. It is still open to the public at the village's municipality building.

"We received so many visitors," Moussa says. "Even some Israeli activists came to have a look at the exhibition." Particularly interested were those Israelis whose ancestors survived the Holocaust: "They came and they appreciated the idea."

"And they expressed their sorrow for us," Moussa notes. "Their message, as well as my message, is to create a new type of generation that really believes in peace."

Thanks to Jewschool.

Government Reform and One State Solution

Yesterday, I volunteered at JNF (Jewish National Fund) - stuffing envelopes and stamping them to be sent out to donors. There, I met another volunteer, an elderly fellow named Steve. We talked about Israeli politics, Jewish and family history.

He proposed a drastic government/electoral reform and a one state solution. I am against a one state solution because I think it would just lead to civil war, but I'll paraphrase Steve's proposal anyway because there is some merit in it.

Steve's one state solution - he proposes that if Gaza is returned to Egypt, the demographic numbers of Jews and Arabs in Israel proper and the West Bank eases the concern that Israel won't remain a Jewish and democratic state. Also, many Arabs in the West Bank have family in Jordan so if the eastern part of the West Bank is given to Jordan, it will ease greater demographic fears in Israel. According to the Israeli Census, due to the Westernization of Arab fertility rates in Israel, Arab families are more in size with Jewish families.

There are several issues with this version of the one state solution. First, one has to convince Egypt to take Gaza back and Jordan to take parts of the West Bank back. This is a difficult task because the opposition of Egypt's current regime is the Muslim Brotherhood and their Palestinian branch is Hamas which stronghold is Gaza. And Jordan is controlled by a Hashemite king which might not want politically emboldened Palestinians incorporated into his country. The only way to overcome this first hurdle is to use America's leverage of foreign aid to Egypt and Jordan to make them agree to this plan.

A second issue with this plan is that the Palestinian Authority (PA) would have its position and power reduced greatly in this new one state because its constituency would be broken off to Egypt and Jordan. And I don't think the PA cherishes their people's democratic aspirations. How it would be incorporated into the Israeli political scene? - I don't know. In order for this plan to work, one would have to negotiate with Egypt and Jordan behind the PA's back.

A third issue is what to do with the Palestinians who are in refugee camps in Lebanon, Syria, and other Arab countries. Political positions of people do change but allowing a mass immigration of Palestinians into Israel, the "Right of Return", is one position which I think Israel would never change. So what would the status of Palestinian refugees outside the Palestinian territories be? For them, this solution is not a solution. In order to solve this problem, the US and Europe must get the Palestinian refugees' "host" countries to permanently settle them there.

Even assuming that there is Israeli political backing for this, I think this plan has very little chance because there won't be Arab political backing for this. It would take great efforts on part of the US and Europe to facilitate the negotiations for this. The Israeli Right would say, "We are ready for this, it is they which need to change." The Israeli Left would say, "If we change, they will change."

Now to Steve's government reform proposal. The current electoral system of "ultra-democracy" and coalition building has brought down numerous government downs and disabled the government from making a decision on the one important issue of the last 41 years - what to do with the Palestinian territories. We have seen the same old faces responsible for failed policies run for election and get a large amount of Knesset seats many times.

Steve states that because the voters are voting for a party, party members are only beholden to the party, and not the people or any part of Israel. He proposes that you connect each Knesset seat to a district, like in the US. That way, that Knesset member would be beholden to his district and not to his party chairman (or chairwoman). I think this would eliminate the small and one issue parties from the Knesset.

I support this measure of reform but who knows if the current Knesset would because it is filled with numerous small parties. In the mean time, let's hope that the upcoming government can deal with the upcoming crises.

Voices of youth

My local newspaper, the Baltimore Sun, isn't a particular good newspaper. The quality has declined greatly over the years. Thomas Friedman's column used to appear here but then all of a sudden they stopped. Now we have Garrison Keillor's column where he never actually writes about anything. Just garbage!

I don't know why I read the Sun - definitely not for the Middle East coverage (probably for the sports coverage). Anyway, today they have an interesting collection of questions and responses from teenagers from the Ramallah Friends School and the Hebrew University Secondary School. I admit, some of it is disturbing. Some of the responses from the Palestinian youth are laced with hate. I might seem biased but just look at some of those shocking answers of the Palestinian youths. For example:

Q. So what happens now?

"I think the perfect plan now is to establish two states, one Palestinian, one Israeli, and with the help of time, the Palestinian state is going to be strong and we'll do to the Israelis the same thing they did to us." - Hend Younis

I've never heard of a Jew wishing for the near annihilation of the Germans. This is disgusting.

The prospects for peace aren't great. But I still believe in Amos Oz's vision for peace - where both sides still hate each other but are just worn out from war. IMHO Israeli-Palestinian peace will not occur during Obama's first term. I hope I am wrong. Hopefully in the 2nd term (if there would be one).

Palestinians Finally Learn

JPost reports that according to a recent poll "conducted by the Beit Sahour-based Palestinian Center for Public Opinion" that Hamas popularity has dropped dramatically.

Today, Hamas is supported by only 27.8% of the population in the Gaza Strip, compared to 51.5% in November, said Dr. Nabil Kukali, founder and general director of the PCPO.

This poll has many other interesting statistics. One thing is for certain. Israeli deterrence has been restored. It is a cold reality. Hopefully Israel and the Palestinians can move forward.

I hope this poll would gain support for Ehud Barak's Labor party for he was the Defense Minister instead of Lieberman's Yisrael Beiteinu party.

The Dayton Mission

In Thomas Friedman's latest column, he tells the efforts of Lt. Gen. Keith Dayton to establish a security institution in the West Bank.

I accompanied him and his little team to Jenin — once the most violent city in the West Bank — to see their work. It was quite a scene: I watched a company of newly trained, proud and professional-looking Palestinian Authority troops, standing at attention, AK-47 assault rifles at their side, listening with obvious respect to the American general telling them: “What you’ve done has done more to advance the Palestinian national project than anything else ... You took care of your people at a difficult time. That is how the security forces of a country behave.”

One of the things I like about Friedman is that if he wants to write about the West Bank, he'll write from the West Bank.

General Dayton was addressing the Second Special Battalion of the Palestinian National Security Force, or N.S.F. It was trained by the Jordanian police in a program overseen by the U.S. Security Coordinator — a k a Dayton. He was originally assigned to help reform Palestinian security by the Bush team in 2005, but only got the funds to do so after Hamas took over Gaza in 2007. Some 1,600 Palestinian N.S.F. troops have since graduated, and 500 are now in training. Schooled in everything from riot control to human rights, the N.S.F. is the only truly professional force controlled by the Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas.

The Israeli Army, originally dubious about the Dayton mission, has come to respect it and is now allowing it to expand to Hebron. What really got Israel’s attention was that during the three-week Israel-Hamas war in Gaza, the West Bank never blew up, largely because N.S.F. troops allowed widespread protests but kept Palestinian demonstrators from clashing with Israeli soldiers.

“General Dayton is our friend,” said Col. Radi Abu Asida of the N.S.F. “Now we have excellent training. Now we have professionalism in our security work. We told the people during the Gaza demonstrations, ‘You can protest, but you must do it in a modern way.’ ”

There are many in Israel who would never trust an Arab with a gun or with a ballot. They cite the 2006 Palestinian elections. They fear a Palestinian state which won't be able to stop Hezbollah or Hamas to establish launching pads around Jerusalem and Tel-Aviv. This is a reasonable fear. Just look at Lebanon - a country of elections. But the Lebanese Army can't stand up to the Iran backed Hezbollah, and political parties have militias. And the media outlets are each controlled by a different faction.

The NYTimes has a wonderful profile on Lebanese satirist Charbel Khalil.

Mr. Khalil shrugs it off. “We are completely free here [regarding the media] compared with other Arab countries,” he said, sitting at a desk in his cozy, wood-paneled studio office just north of Beirut. “Nothing is forbidden for satire except the president of the republic.”

Then he adds, with faint embarrassment, “and the army. And the judges, and religious leaders. And the presidents and kings of ‘sister and neighborly countries.’ ” All these are specifically protected from public ridicule under Lebanon’s media law, he says.

The reason the 2006 elections were a disaster for the Palestinians is that they didn't have the institutions in place to actually create a democratic state. There is more to democracy than elections. There needs to be a balance of power. Institutions that strengthens democracy such as a free media, labor unions, an independent security force, government transparency and accountability. None of these are just going to pop up or be easy to establish.

Defeating the enemy through sheer force is not the only way to establish security. One can also establish an environment which the enemy can't garner support and operate. Such an environment is one which has strong societal institutions such as those I talked about above.

To vote, or not to vote?

I have talked a lot recently about the Arab Israeli community. Al Jazeera recently reported on the debate among Israeli Arabs on whether to vote or boycott the election. I already talked about the same topic here. To me, it seems silly. It seems like they are digging themselves a bigger hole, a hole which the ultra-nationalist parties (such as Israel Beiteinu) are happy they are digging. Never miss an opportunity to miss an opportunity (Abba Eban). In the end of the Al Jazeera video, the reporter said this:

Back in the 1950's, 90% of Palestinian Israelis voted in elections. By 2003, this figure dropped to 63%. By 2006, it dropped even further to 52%.

He also said that this year it is projected that less than 50% of Israeli Arabs will vote.

Those advocating for Arab boycott of the elections reason that voting in this election is a recognition of the "Zionist entity." The vast majority of them already voted in this "entity" right after its creation so that can't be it. What could it be? It seems that the less they vote, the worse their situation gets. Just like the more anti-Jew the Palestinians get in their history, from the early 20th century till today, the worse their situation gets.

Perhaps this is a similar strategy to how Arab leaders utilized Palestinian misfortunes to do their bidding - fight against Israel. I think it is.

The Disintegration of Arabs in Israeli Democracy

When I read the news I try to connect events by common themes in order to see trends occurring in society. The current trend I am observing is the decay of Arab involvement in Israeli politics. There has always been a rift between the Arab minority and the Jewish majority in Israel, but what I don't understand is why are they not embracing the right to vote and the right to run for office, and the power that comes with it, to correct whatever injustices they may feel. They are helping the Evil of Powerlessness. They are doing what the ultra-right parties want them to do. The only way to beat them, is to do it in their own game - politics. Resistance, Intifada, demonstrations and riots, what ever you want to call it, has only weakened the Arabs and brought resentment to everyone, Jew and Arab, in Israel. Suicide bombers went to clubs and pizzerias, places where secular left leaning Israelis go, not where the Datiim go. This is the time to build relationships, not break them.

Anyway, the following will be my presentation of recent news articles from various sources on the current state of Arab Israelis in the Israeli political sphere:

During the Gaza war, I wrote about the disqualification of Balad and United Arab List from the upcoming election. Fortunately for the sake of democracy, the Israeli Supreme Court overturned the Election Commitee's ruling.

I found this from the KACH and Kahane Chai wiki page for why Kach was first officially disqualified in the Israeli 1988 elections:

A candidates list shall not participate in elections to the Knesset if its objects or actions, expressly or by implication, include one of the following:

(1) negation of the existence of the State of Israel as the state of the Jewish people;

(2) negation of the democratic character of the State

(3) incitement to racism

Those who presented the case against the Arab parties gave additional reasons for disqualification but I thought that it would be interesting to look at the law that first disqualified the far right/fascist/racist KACH party.

The next news story is by Shani Litman of Haaretz about the Arab leader of Da'am. Her name is Asma Agbarieh-Zahalka, "apart from Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni, she is the only woman heading an Israeli political party."

Even the ad by Yisrael Beiteinu, which strongly questioned the loyalty of Israeli Arabs, did not annoy them. The couple watched it as though it were a science fiction film. The only thing that concerned Agbarieh-Zahalka was the Balad ad, which did not even bother offering a Hebrew translation of its all-Arabic content. Her own ad was unusual not only because of its modest cost, or because it clearly showed her in the advanced stages of pregnancy, but also because of the party's utopian self-definition, exceptional in the Israeli political landscape of 2009: "We are Da'am, a workers' party."

You hear that? Not an Arab or Zionist party, but a workers' party.

Asma Agbarieh-Zahalka was born in Jaffa 35 years ago. Her maternal grandfather stayed there in 1948, when all his siblings fled to the Gaza Strip.

"We had good relations with our relatives in Gaza until the closures began," she said. "Since then, the connection has been cut off. I don't even know whether any of them were killed in the recent war."

Her father, a renovations contractor, came from a large family in Umm al-Fahm. He died when she was 18. She has three sisters and two brothers, all of whom lead traditional though not extremely pious Muslim lives.

It was in this context that her first rebellion took place. As a teenager, she became more and more devout, to the extent of joining the Islamic Movement. "I wanted to be close to God," she said, "and I thought this was the way. I didn't understand that the movement has political implications. I thought that religion contained elements of justice and meaning with respect to questions like 'why are we here and where should we be going.' As a girl who never left Jaffa until she went to university, I didn't have many options apart from the religious one."

But when she started studying in the humanities faculty at Tel Aviv University, another change took place. "This turned my world around in a very difficult and painful way. Suddenly I realized that there are different truths and different cultures. This confused me and brought the questions back much more forcefully, but this time there was no answer. Descartes dismantled everything for me, but he didn't manage to put it all back together again."

It was around that time, in 1995, that Da'am (which means "support" in Arabic) was founded by Jewish and Arab activists who had left the Derekh Hanitsotz organization. The party's first branch opened in Jaffa and got involved in trying to solve the housing problems of the city's Arabs residents. An activist who knew Agbarieh-Zahalka offered her a job as a copy editor at the party's newspaper.

"I came to the opening of the branch and they talked about politics, and I didn't understand a thing," she recalled. "There I met Michal Schwartz, who spoke to me in Arabic. It amazed me to meet an Ashkenazi Jewish woman who knew Arabic. That was the first time I had been able to feel that the two of us were the same."

I always wished I had learned Arabic. Being born in an enclave of Hebrew in the middle of the Arab world, and having a mother born in Tunisia, an Arab country, you would think learning Arabic would be important but because Israel hardly has any trade with Arab countries, Arab isn't necessary to learn; which is kind of odd because all the highway signs are in Arabic as well as Hebrew and English (though I think they removed the English since I left), and at least 20% of Israelis are Arab.

Working at the newspaper, she said, opened her eyes. "I began to understand what was happening around me and to believe that it is possible to change the situation - in contrast to my previous outlook that life is just a corridor through which one must pass as quickly as possible, because the important thing is life after death. After a few months, I joined the party. This wasn't easy. I entered an opposition politics that aims to change the way the world works, and this is something that frightens the population I come from, which is a minority guided by fear and survival instinct. From their perspective, the evil that is known is better than the evil that is unknown. It was hard for my family to accept this. I also had to fight for my right as a woman to follow this path. Only in the 2006 elections were they finally persuaded, and for the first time, my mother and brothers voted for me."

Great description of Semites: "a minority guided by fear and survival instinct" and "from their perspective, the evil that is known is better than the evil that is unknown."

A few days before she gave birth to her first child, Adam - during the height of the war in Gaza - Agbarieh-Zahalka was still answering intentionally provocative questions from potential voters at a parlor meeting in Tel Aviv. One of them wanted to know whether she condemned Hamas and Hezbollah terror in the same way when she spoke in Arab locales. "How do you say that in Arabic?" he asked again and again.

Agbarieh-Zahalka did not lose her composure. She is familiar with the suspicion of Arabs that even many leftists feel ...

This is true, even leftist Israelis are suspicious of Arabs. This isn't just because of tribalism. It is because many Arab Israelis affiliated with the Palestinians - they are Palestinian as far as they are concerned. I went to dinner with a bunch of Israelis recently. The host is acquainted with two Jewish medical students at Technion (the MIT/John Hopkins of Israel). These medical students have Arab friends but there is always a rift between them when an Israeli or Palestinian is killed because of the conflict. When a Palestinian civilian is killed, Jewish Israelis are saddened and Arab Israelis are angered. But when an Israeli is killed, Jewish Israelis are griefed (they don't shoot bullets into the air) and their Arab peers seem indifferent. This causes a lot of Israelis to question the loyalty of the Arab minority which doesn't even have to serve in the IDF (except the Druze).

Note: according to the host and her acquintences at Technion, 30% of the medical students there are Arabs. The host didn't like this but the rest of the table seemed it was fine.

and she is also familiar with suspicions about her party. Da'am sees itself as a party whose members are united by their class affiliation, not their national identity. For now, however, there seems to be little class affiliation between Da'am's Arab agricultural and construction workers and its Jewish university lecturers. Jewish employees of manpower agencies from Yeruham and Dimona have not yet joined this workers' society, or the labor unions it is trying to establish.

"Most of our activity began in the Arab sector," said Agbarieh-Zahalka, "because this is the weakest population, and is therefore prepared to accept our party's ideas - peace and equality. Arabs have no problem accepting this. The side that has been deprived of equality is the one that wants equality back, whereas the side that thinks it is rightly enjoying its privileges - the Jews - clearly won't want to relinquish them. But the state of the Jews is no longer the state of the Jews - it is the state of the wealthy. And therefore, in reality, even Jews no longer have privileges. Arabs and Jews are suffering from the same situation, from the privatization of their right to live with dignity.

"I would like to think it will not be very long before Jewish workers, unemployed people and laborers understand that they have nothing more to lose, that it is worth their while to join forces with the Arabs. We have branches in Tel Aviv and we are helping people who need our help. At the moment, those who are contacting us are those who are naturally more open to accepting aid from a nonprofit organization in which Jews and Arabs work together."

What bothers me more than Arab Israelis affiliating with the Palestinians is Jewish Israelis of the religious and ultra-right persuation (fascist) being hostile of the Arab minority. This goes against every fiber of my American democracy loving self.

But the Arab masses are not voting for Da'am either.

"Our greatest enemy in Arab society is despair. More than 50 percent of the Arab public will not vote at all. They have lost all faith in the parties and in politics, and this is a faith that is hard to restore. And in any case, in recent years, Arab society has not been voting ideologically but rather by clans, and therefore, it is impossible to learn anything from the vote in the Arab street about political trends in this population. To my great regret, the establishment reinforces the clan structure of Arab society by not strengthening the economy of Arab society. When the extended family becomes the economic bulwark, anyone dependent on the family has to pay the price politically, and his vote is determined by the head of the clan. Therefore, the same people can vote for the Islamists in one election and for the communists in the next.

I think this characteristic of tribalism, which the Western Jews have already gotten rid of, not only makes Arabs vote by clan but also makes them affiliate with the Palestinians.

"The clans to which I belong - Agbarieh from Umm al-Fahm and Zahalka from Kfar Qara on my husband's side - put the Triangle [region] at my disposal and could bring in tens of thousands of votes. But I want to create a different electoral culture, one in which you vote for the party that represents your ideas."

Couldn't have said it better. The Arabs need "to create a different electoral culture, one in which you vote for the party that represents your ideas."

For Da'am members, the Knesset race is only the tip of the iceberg of the party's activities. Mainly, these are carried out through the Ma'an nonprofit organization and other nonprofits affiliated with the party, which are supported by donations from workers' organizations abroad and dues paid by party members. Agbarieh-Zahalka - like the second person on the slate, Nir Nader, and other employees of Ma'an - is paid minimum wage for her work. The fact that the party has not yet won enough votes to enter the Knesset, and is apparently far from doing so this time as well, does not discourage them, nor has it caused them to seek shelter under the wing of another party with a similar ideology, such as Hadash (the Communist Party which has a list of Jews and Arabs).

"We draw hope from our day-to-day work, from the palpable change that occurs when you succeed in arranging a permanent job or a pension for someone," Agbarieh-Zahalka said. "My aim isn't to take shortcuts to the Knesset. If there were a party that was at all close to my opinions, I would vote for it. But since workers don't have any representation in the Knesset, from my perspective, the need is great. We are creating a change in consciousness and in the political culture and waiting for the moment when conditions are ripe. When that will happen doesn't concern me. "The progress of the workers' movement will also depend on the situation of workers' movements in the rest of the world. Even in Egypt, a dictatorship, we have seen a workers' movement that is beginning to build a different left. I want to believe that this can happen here, too. Today I know that this is my purpose in life, that I have found the answer I sought when I was young. Now, this has also become a personal issue, because I am doing this so that my son will grow up in a healthier society. We named him Adam [which means human being] because this is a universal name, and I hope the love of mankind will be a supreme value for him."

In a democracy people from totally different backgrounds but with similar goals can join forces to achieve their goals. Unfortunately, Arab Israelis haven't yet embraced this political arena because many have not yet embraced Israel, and Israel hasn't done enough to embrace the Arabs.

As Science, Culture and Sport Minister Ghaleb Majadle said, "Anyone who wants loyalty from Israeli-Arabs must first ensure that the State is loyal to them, by closing the gaps."

The minister was speaking in response to the Israel Beiteinu election campaign which says only those loyal to Israel should be granted citizenship.

Majadle added, "I hope we will return to being a moderate society, and that the demagogues don't succeed in bringing us to state of despair." He said that the "vast majority" of Israelis were "sane and pragmatic."

The minister also referred to Israelis' scientific achievements in recent years, saying "We're one of four leading countries in space technology, and among the world's leaders in security research." He added, however, that Israel was not fulfilling its potential in societal terms.

He warned that the county would be in danger if "gaps in Israeli society" were not bridged.

Majadle is 15th on the Labor party's Knesset list.

I was reading the comments on readers left on the online article in JPost and it brings up the issue of whether Israel should be a Jewish state where everything is Jewish i.e. the people and the laws are Halacha, or a state of Jews and other people (but that doesn't mean that all of a sudden million of Palestinian refugees are going immigrate to Israel - I am very much against that). One commenter said:

Arabs living in the State of Israel are the citizens of the Jewish State and their security protected by the Jewish State equally as for all the citizens, I call it "the Jewish State's most precious loyalty to the Arab citizens". The Jewish state provides all the social benefits to the Arab citizens equally to all the citizens is another precious Jewish State loyalty. Unfortunately, Arabs (except Bedouins) would not be loyal to Israel. Proven by:1) Commemorate naqbah, 2) Committed to help terrorists to harm Israeli citizens. 3) Refuse to serve in the Israeli Army. 4) Israeli (cont. from 1of 2) Arabs deny to call Israel "home" (I never heard Israeli Arab abroad, to say he is from Israel) 5) Refuse to study the history of Israel.... Free and democratic Israel doesn't have punitive laws against present Israeli Arab attitude. Until the state laws to be changed or Arab world forges peace with the State of Israel, Israeli Arabs will side with their Palestinian brothers and stay the enemies of the Jewish State. If the above points are facts, Israeli Arabs who abuse democracy serve in the Knesset could cause more harm to the Jewish State and its nation.

So does State rejection of its Arab minority in "spirit" cause Arab citizens to be hostile to the State, or is it Arab rejection of the State to which they are citizens of cause the State to be hostile in "spirit" ot the Arab minority? I think it is the ladder. So what if the Israeli symbols are Jewish? All is required of the Arabs is to follow the law which they have the opprotunity control via the Knesset. One thing is for sure, both the Arab and ultra-right parties have to get over their sentimental issues. I don't see an Israeli "Brotherhood" poping up nor do I seek it. I just think that both the Israeli and Arab communities should have a stake in the other.

The next article is by Thomas Friedman in the NYTimes writing from Jenin, West Bank.

In recent days, some have questioned whether Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was making a big mistake in appointing so many “special envoys,” such as George Mitchell, to handle key trouble spots, like the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. I think they are right to question Mrs. Clinton about this plethora of envoys. But I don’t think the problem is that she has too many; it’s that she doesn’t have enough. In the case of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, she may need at least a half-dozen envoys. Actually, this conflict is now broken into so many different pieces it may take a whole State Department of its own to resolve it.

In addition to Mitchell, Hillary may want to enlist Bill and Chelsea to take a crack at solving this one, definitely Jim Baker and Jimmy Carter, too. Why, heck, she might want to even ask some perfect strangers she meets in the halls at Foggy Bottom: “Hey, would you like a free trip to the Middle East?” Sure, it helps to know some history, but a grasp of biology now is even more useful — like how an amoeba reproduces by constantly splitting itself in half.

Nissim Dahan, a friend of my parents, said that he would like to go as an envoy to the Middle East or perhaps tag on Mitchell "with no pay and no position." He makes me excited because he has even more hope, more optimism, and more drive than I for Middle East peace - more specifically Israeli Palestinian peace.

Here is another excerpt from the Friedman article:

How did this conflict get so fragmented? For starters, it’s gone on way too long. The West Bank is so chopped up and divided now by roads, checkpoints and fences to separate Israel’s crazy settlements from Palestinian villages that a Palestinian could fly from Jerusalem to Paris quicker than he or she could drive from Jenin, here in the northern West Bank, to Hebron in the south.

Another reason is that every idea has been tried and has failed. For the Palestinians, Pan-Arabism, Communism, Islamism have all come and gone, with none having delivered statehood or prosperity. As a result, more and more Palestinians have fallen back on family, clan, town and tribal loyalties. In Israel, Peace Now’s two-state solution was blown up with the crash of the Oslo peace accords, the rising Palestinian birthrate made any plans to annex the West Bank a mortal threat to Israel’s Jewish character, and the rockets that followed Israel’s withdrawals from both Lebanon and Gaza made a mockery of those who said unilateral pullouts were the solution.

All of this has led to a resurgence of religiosity. According to Haaretz, the following questions were posed by a well-known rabbi in one of the pamphlets distributed by the Israeli Army’s Office of Chief Rabbi before the latest Gaza fighting: “Is it possible to compare today’s Palestinians to the Philistines of the past? And if so, is it possible to apply lessons today from the military tactics of Samson and David? A comparison is possible because the Philistines of the past were not natives and had invaded from a foreign land.”

If there is anyone who can articulate to readers a trend in a Middle Eastern society, it is Thomas Friedman. If you haven't read "From Beirut to Jerusalem" yet, after you have finished reading this sentence, go to the nearest library or book store and get that book, read it, and educate yourself.

The last issue I want to talk about is about a potential Arab boycott of the elections.

The debate in the Israeli Arab community on the question of boycotting the elections is growing in intensity. As of this week, all public debates between the two Arab and one Arab-Jewish party now include another participant arguing for a boycott. The parties are choosing to address the question as the possibility of boycott looms increasingly large, especially in the wake of the Gaza war. Some forecast that a high enough number of boycotters may result in one of the three parties not passing the 2 percent election threshold and losing its Knesset seats altogether.

One such debate took place in Sakhnin Wednesday. The secretaries of Hadash, Balad and the United Arab List-Ta'al were joined on stage by Muhammad Kana'aneh, secretary of the Abna el-Balad ("Sons of the Land") movement that supports a boycott. Kana'aneh told the audience that voting in the elections constitutes a complete recognition of the Zionist entity built on the ruins of Palestine. He went on to say that the Israeli establishment is utilizing the presence of Arab MKs to propagate its democracy, while in effect they have little influence. "The Arab representation in parliament does not influence decision-making, but it allows the Zionists to boast Arab MKs, including a deputy-chairman of the Knesset and members of the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee," Kana'aneh said.

Is Arab lack of influence in government decision-making due to the Israeli establishment or because of Arab rejection of the State? It is obviously the latter. As another Haaretz article reports:

According to the government's statistical yearbook for 2008, Israel has about 120,000 Druze citizens, constituting 1.6 percent of the population. Five Druze lawmakers would be 4 percent of the Knesset's 120 members, 2.5 times more than the proportion of the community within the national population.
One surprise candidate is Hamad Amar of Shfaram, a long-time activist in Yisrael Beiteinu, and 12th on the party's list. Amar, who declined to answer questions Sunday about his candidacy, would only say that for the Druze community, Yisrael Beiteinu's campaign slogan "no citizenship without loyalty" is a natural one.

So why are Arabs under represented and Druze over represented in the Knesset? The reason is that Druze are more active in the Israeli establishment. They serve in the IDF and the police, and embrace Israel.

Deputy Foreign Minister Majali Wahabi (Kadima), a Druze, said yesterday that his community cannot be expected to vote en bloc: "The large parties have to understand the importance of our community. I personally plan to represent my people faithfully, but also anyone who voted for my party, no matter what sector they come from. I believe in our involvement in Israeli society, not in separate parties."

So this leads me conclude that the Arab disintegration from Israeli politics is self inflicted. One commenter on the Haaretz article about the boycott said:

Is it true that Israeli Arabs never lose an opportunity to lose an opportunity?

Another commenter said:

In Britain this sort of thing is called `cutting off your nose to spite your face.

Their leaders such as those in Balad and United Arab List (UAL) would never be able to help their people till one of them goes through the channel of mainstream politics and build relationships such as Barack Obama did in America, or what the leader of Da'am is trying to do.

Managing the Situation

Aluf Benn of Haaretz reports that Prof. Efraim Inbar, director of the right-wing think tank Begin-Sadat (BESA) Center for Strategic Studies at Bar-Ilan University, "the most effective way to deal with the conflict is through a "controlled management" of the problem that includes the evacuation of isolated West Bank settlements."

His latest study, "The Rise and Fall of the 'Two States for Two Peoples' Paradigm," whose publication coincides with the new eras in Washington and Jerusalem, Inbar writes that the best solution would be to repartition the country, with Egypt resuming control of the Gaza Strip and Jordan controlling the West Bank. But since such an arrangement would take time to implement, for now focus should be placed on managing the conflict in its current state. Inbar also proposes "stopping terror, reducing the amount of suffering caused to Israeli and to Palestinian society and preventing escalation."

These views provoke interest because BESA, which was founded about 15 years ago, is traditionally known as a mainly right-wing institution that generally reflects pro-military views.

According to Inbar, Israel will have to evacuate additional isolated settlements to reduce the friction between Jews and Palestinians as well as showing restraint in the use of force. He said that beyond making changes to its education system and its media in order to create a more positive atmosphere, little can be expected from the Palestinian Authority. Inbar says that correct management of the conflict, which must be carefully coordinated with Washington, will help to isolate Hamas.

Inbar says that the two-state solution to which the international community is currently committed is "nonsense" in the light of Hamas' takeover in Gaza and the impotence of the PA in the West Bank. He believes that the expectation that the Palestinians will create a modern state, after the PA's failure, are unreasonable. At the same time, Inbar is aware of the difficulty involved in letting go of the two-state idea among both governments and people throughout the world.

Inbar is perhaps my favorite Israeli pundit on Al Jazeera English. I love it when they have Israelis on to argue but Inbar does it the best.

As difficult as it is to imagine a two-state solution any time soon, I still think it is the only solution. That status quo would and should not remain. I think maintaining the peace process through "gestures" would build up confidence among Israelis and Palestinians with the process. Dismanteling of settlements, even small settlements and "outposts", is a start and I believe would build confidence and relieve tensions. Perhaps if Israel show more cooperation with Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinians would see that life under the Palestinian Authority (PA) and peaceful negotiations is the path to their dreams. Perhaps another peaceful Palestinian player would rise?

Emmanuel Navon of JPost also talks about managing the situation.

If the Israeli-Palestinian conflict cannot be solved in the short term, it has to be managed. But how? The rationale of the disengagement strategy was that, since the conflict seems unsolvable and since the status quo is untenable, Israel might as well get the Palestinians off its back. If only. We left Gaza, but Gaza did not leave us.

He later says:

While we should continue to strive for a political solution, we have to understand that the more the Palestinians feel that we cannot do without such a solution, the less likely they will be to compromise. Managing the conflict, at this point, means making the status quo both bearable and changeable.

The day to day life of the Palestinians must be improved. While withdrawal from the West Bank, even those areas away from settlements or the border, is supported by all who supports the two state solution, it is "nonsense", as Inbar puts it, in the current situation. Palestinian media and political institutions must be developed. Perhaps a charity network independent of Palestinian armed groups would lead be a stepping stone for institutional developement. One thing is for sure, the current Palestinian political situation is a mess. There are plenty of lessons to be learned from the Gaza withdrawal, the 2006 Palestinian elections, the Hamas-Fatah infighting, and operation 'Cast Lead'.

Assuming the Worse About the Other

When I read articles and op-eds, I recognize phrases or sentences that tell a lot more about a subject or topic than a few words usually do. These phrases usually have global, psychological and philosophical implications which can be expanded a hundred different ways. They are good starting points for a sermon. But this isn't a sermon. I always think sermons have to mention a passage in the Bible and I'm not going to do that. Torah/Bible/Koran studies are sort of like group sermons where all the participants add to the overall message of the sermon and contributes to the collective Biblical/moral insight of the group.

So back on topic: assuming the worse about the other. In this JPost article about the new American Middle-East envoy Senator Mitchell and the idea of internationalizing the peace process, the author quotes the conclusion of Mitchell's May, 2001 report on how to re-ignite the peace process in the wake of the second intifada. The last sentence in the quote is "Amid rising anger, fear, and mistrust, each side assumed the worst about the other and acted accordingly." I think this sentence tells a lot about human conflicts in general, but let's focus on the only conflict we in the West and Arab world care about - the Israel- Palestinian one.

What do the respective parties assume about the other? I can't really tell you what the Palestinian/Arab really assumes about Israelis except what their political and religious leaders say to the press and in public. In this op-ed by Jeffrey Goldberg, published in the NYTimes, Goldberg explains why Israel can't make peace with Hamas. He provides many quotes from an interview he had with Nizar Rayyan who was an influential leader in the Hamas organization who was killed in the recent war in Gaza. I suggest my readers (if I have any) read Goldberg's piece. Any Westerner who isn't sympathetic to Hamas would understand what Israelis assume about the Arabs - that they are, at least indifferent, to antisemitism. Also, Israelis assume that as soon as the Palestinians get their state according to '67 borders, they will ask for more - as stated in the Hamas Charter. The Palestinian refugees in Lebanon and other "host" countries don't care that much to be resettled in the West Bank or Gaza. They want to go back to where their grandparents once lived. Some of the more right-wing Israelis and Evangelical Christian Americans are either just racist and would never trust the Arabs no matter what.

In I wrote about a Christian woman I met on election day. Her world view of Biblical prophecy chiseled in stone would need many discussions with Israelis and Arabs to melt away.

On a recent program on Al Jazeera English, an Israeli and a Palestinian talk about the recent war in Gaza and international law. The Palestinian and the Arab mediator assume the worse about Israel - that Israel kills civilians in order to terrorize the population and to pressure on Hamas into submission. That's why the Arabs and the European lefties said from the get-go that the operation wouldn't work. They assumed that the goal of the operation was to terrorize and they tried to prove to the Israelis that they weren't scared. Hence the operation was doomed to failure.

Nine minutes into this other Al Jazeera program an Arab business man says exactly what I just said. He assumes that "anti-peace" Israelis want to terrorize the Palestinians in Gaza and it will fail because they are not afraid. At least he acknowledges that there is more than one view in Israel.

So where does that leave us; those that care about Israel, Palestine, and humanity? Try to recognize that you, too, have assumptions and prejudices. Confront and challenge those in your communities. And seek the 'other' to get understanding of his life and a feel for his shoes. At the end of the day, we all breath the same air and harbor the same germs.

BSG-Palestinian parallel

I am a fan of the sci-fi TV series "Battlestar Galactica" (BSG). I'm not sure why I like this show. I discovered the show only at the beginning of season three. It's a drama ... in space. It is a Peabody Award winner and has excellent writing. Here is a synopsis from wiki to give you a little background:

Battlestar Galactica continues from the 2003 mini-series to chronicle the journey of the last surviving humans from the Twelve Colonies of Kobol after their nuclear annihilation by the Cylons. The survivors are led by President Laura Roslin and Commander William Adama in a ragtag fleet of ships with the Battlestar Galactica, an old but powerful warship, as its command ship. Pursued by Cylons intent on wiping out the remnants of the human race, the survivors travel across the galaxy looking for the fabled and long-lost thirteenth colony: Earth.

At the end of season 2 the fleet decides to settle on an in habitable planet called New Caprica. The Cylons eventually find them and take over the planet occupying the humans already living there. The humans' standard of living wasn't that great before the occupation but it got even worse during the military and brutal occupation by the Cylons. The humans' had a corrupt and ineffective leadership before and during the occupation. During the begining of season 3, those who were in the human military start leading a resistance. One time, they sent a suicide bomber to the human police graduation ceremony in order to kill the puppet governor for colaborating with the Cylons. Many humans (collaborators) died but the corrupt governor didn't. This led to a tighter crack down on the human population. The Cylons were contemplating whether to kill all the humans, try to come to a peaceful understanding, or just leave. After a succesful and daring rescue by the rest of the human fleet, the humans flee the occupation and the planet looking for a new future. The Cylons decided to stop pursuing them. During and after the escape some that led the resistance killed some humans believed to have collaborated with the Cylons. They held secret informal (illegal) tribunals to persecute and kill those who they believe to have collaborated. The new leader and President of the fleet Roslin decides to pardon all people except the puppet governor of the Cylons (though he is later acquitted of all charges).

One of the character's on the show is a former terrorist and prisoner who was released and then became Vice President (but as a political rival to the main characters) of the fleet's make-shift government. In the latest show (412 Disquiet Follows My Soul) he has this monologue about the latest crisis in the story arc which I think gives an insight on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict:

In prison, you start to confuse your hopes and dreams with reality. You start to believe that because you want something to happen ... for all the peel and red ... you start to believe that it will happen. You start to live on wishes ... the way things should be rather than the way they are ... all because you can't face reality. The leaders of this fleet are succumbing to wishful thinking because they can't face reality and the reality is that the Roslin/Adama Administration has led us nowhere. Earth was a mirage ... a fantasy they tangled in front of us for four long years in order to maintain power ... a fantasy the dreamed up as a way hold on and control the government over the democratic wishes of the population. So now ... what is the effectless and dispirited leadership is doing to solidify their position after failing us so miserably? ... Turning to the Cylons ... the Cylons, for help. Aren't the Cylons the reason we are out here in the first place? Aren't they the enemy? Or are they suddenly our friends if that keeps Roslin/Adama in power?

Later in the episode he says:

Every citizen has the right to protect themselves from oppression. Take whatever measure you think is necessary.

The parallel between the BSG and Palestinian story is remarkable. I don't know if the producers and writers of the show did this on purpose but I think they have great insight on human behavior like all great literature.

Let Hamas fail

I've heard this idea circulating recently: in order to defeat, or at least delegitimize Hamas to the Palestinian people, Israel must negotiate with it. If that process fails, Hamas would lose power just like Fatah did in the years following the failure of the Camp David peace talks.

It is fair to say that most Palestinians and Arabs (at least those that live in the West) don't agree with Hamas' ideology. But because of the lack of political maturation and self-criticism of the Palestinians, they don't have many options between the radical Islamic (and antisemitic) Hamas and the corrupt Fatah. That is one reason why Hamas won the Palestinian legislative elections in 2006. Many people, Jews, Israelis, or otherwise, some of whom I call "friends" on Digg and the real world, believe that the Palestinians have so demonized the Israelis (and Jews) to their children that the Palestinians can't be trusted now and probably for generations to come. This is something we have to accept, though it is easy for me to say that here from the safety of the United States. I'm sure that many, if not most, Arabs have negative perceptions of Jews and Israelis. We, in general, also have negative perceptions about Arabs.

I think Jews, especially in Israel, need to have more dialogue with the Arabs. Emotions need to be expressed and felt by both sides. We all cry, smile, and laugh the same way. Hopefully, through enough dialogue, we would be smiling together for it is contagious - or so I'm told. There is so much to be said by commoners like us that don't participate in negotiations or government decisions.

So why do I still hold reservations on whether Israel should talk to Hamas after expressing a need for dialogue between Israelis/Jews and Palestinians/Arabs? One reason is that Hamas is blatantly antisemitic. There are some lines you don't cross. This might be one of them. A second reason is that if Israel talks or even acknowledges Hamas as the representative of the Palestinians, it would create a dangerous precedent. As I said before, Hamas is an antisemitic organization. But also, the nature of Palestinian politics and the way their elections were held in 2006 gives Israel and the West a bad taste about 'democracy.' Political factions MUST disarm in order to run for elections. This won't resolve the first reason of why Israel can't talk to Hamas but at least it would mature Palestinian politics. Political factions in Iraq had to disarm and hopefully the nature of Iraqi politics would mature further but there hasn't been any alarming issue other than troop withdrawal and inability for them to spend money which is understandable.

Jewish and Palestinian Americans speak on the situation in Gaza

Ali Damah (Jordanian) from the organization, MidEastYouth, posted these videos of Jewish-, Palestinian-, and other Americans speaking about the situation in Gaza, on a local Fox affiliate in Florida. Considering that this is a "low-status TV station," the quality of the discussion was excellent; more content, less propaganda. The Palestinian woman on this show is intelligent and very open in the discussion. She doesn't place all the blame for the situation on Israel, but blames Hamas as well, while still expressing the Arab anger over the Israeli incursion into Gaza. She has a clear and thorough understanding of the situation in Gaza, in particular, as well as the general Middle East.

Another person who spoke on the show (via telephone) was a Christian missionary working in Gaza. She said that Hamas is hiding in their basements and civilian buildings. She said, "they are hiding in the people ... if they loved the people they would get away from the people." She also said that Hamas is supplying aid/food with families in exchange for young recruits. Don't forget Hamas raided UN aid trucks intended for the Gaza families. This is what Israel has been saying all along and now you have an on-the-scene, independent observer saying the same. It's tragic.

Was Hamas democratically elected?

AlJazeera English has recently broadcast a discussion Sir David between a Hamas spokesperson and a former Israeli ambassador to the United States, about the current situation in Gaza. The ambassador makes a good rebuttal to the claim that Hamas was democratically elected. In Iraq and Kosovo, parties had to disarm before running in elections. Hamas (and Hezbollah as well) did not disarm before running in elections and still maintain their armed forces. Can you imagine the Democrats and Republicans each with an armed militia? Instead of filibusters they would have skirmishes. It's chaotic and a democratic society can't operate this way.

When I watch these AlJazeera videos there are many times that I want the moderator or an Israeli spokespersons to ask the Arabs certain question or tell the audience to think about something. For once, my thoughts were answered. The Israeli ambassador told the audience to look at Hamas' charter online.

In, the second part of the program (Frost Over the World), Sir David has a Palestinian and a Jew familiar with Israeli politics in the studio, on the same sofa. I think Israelis and Palestinians need more discussion around coffee tables. Here are a few notes:

1. The Palestinian said that a Hamas official told him that Hamas' infrastructure hadn't been dented. I was thinking, "Is he crazy? This is the kind of delusional thinking that brought the Palestinians nowhere."

2. The Palestinian said that Arafat accepted the two state solution. "Oh really?"

3. The Palestinian is correct that Israel's settlement policy harms the peace process. But I think that Israel is having an internal discussion on what kind of state it wants to be. The Palestinians have to start thinking about what sort of state they want to have in the future. I don't think that this internal discussion is premature because it will help Israel, mediators, and the international community garner support for their respective peace camps if the Palestinians express that they want a secular and peaceful state. Unfortunately, the Palestinians overwhelmingly "voted" for a radical Islamist and antisemitic organization. This told all Jewish Israelis that Hamas and this new "face" of the Palestinian cause isn't about peace and improving the lives of Palestinians (just as Hitler did by involving Germany in a war), but is about the destruction of the Jews.

4. The British Jew is being very polite. I think that being face-to-face with one's counterpart softens us up, helps communication and the peace process. Maybe it's because he's British and not Israeli. Israelis aren't afraid to say what they think even if it harms someone's feelings.

I wish the Brit told the Palestinian, "What did you expect when your people elected an antisemitic terrorist group right next to a Jewish state?"

5. The Palestinian says that he can't accept Israel because they stole his land (i.e., 1948). He says he can accept a 15-year "hudna" (which means "cease-fire" but can also mean "calm"). Most observers see a hudna as just a time-out, in which for Hamas will rearm; such a cease fire would never last.

6. The Palestinian says that he can drop the gun but can't "abandon the dream". The problem is that the Palestinians still haven't found a way to follow the dream without arms. I wanted to ask him, "Okay, you dropped the gun. Now what? Tell me how you and the rest of the Palestinian peace camp will move forward so the Israeli peace camp can talk to you and support you."

7. The Palestinian also says that the first step must be Israel recognizing Palestinian "victimhood" caused by the creation of the State of Israel. I think Israeli historians such as Benny Morris and also Israelis in the media have recognized this tragedy, but Israel as a nation is unwilling to just pull back and compensate Palestinians, because it doesn't believe they will really drop the gun and pick up the hammer to build up their new state. Israel's withdrawl from Gaza and Hamas' rise is an example of that.

8. "When you shout at someone and say that there is no dispute, there is obviously a dispute" is the response the British Jew makes to the Palestinians' statement on the Palestinian narrative of 1948.

Arab Bloggers Size Up Obama

The New York Times website has compiled the reaction of several Arab bloggers from the Middle East to the election of Barack Obama to the US presidency.

After reading several segments of this New York Times article, I feel that the Arabs of the Middle East are experiencing a great sense of hope -- a hope for a change in the United State' policy toward Arabs and Muslims, though they retain some reservations. All of the commentators in the Times article had viewed President-elect Barack Obama's speech at the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) conference and had viewed Vice-President-elect Joseph Biden state that he is a Zionist. Some reservations had also been expressed about the appointment of US Congressman Rahm Emanuel (D-Illinois) as Obama's Chief-of-Staff.

Overall, they have expressed positive feeling about Obama. If Obama follows-through on his promises to gradually withdraw US troops from Iraq, I believe the Arab world will continue to admire him. I hope Obama will be able to use and credibility that he may establish with the Arab/Muslim world to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian issue.

I am uncertain if their attitude revolves around happiness that the Bush Administration is about to end, and that it won't be followed by a new one led by Senator John McCain, who they seem to perceive as either a continuation of Bush policy, or a new type of 'hard-line' American policy (unfavorable to their supposed interests and favorable to those of Israel). However, they all recognize the historical significance of Obama's election.

Their hope recalls a segment from Thomas Friedman's From Beirut to Jerusalem, in which large segments of the Lebanese population were overjoyed that the Americans were trying to bring peace and prosperity to Lebanon. America obviously failed there, but since that part of the world once viewed the US as a beacon of hope, freedom and democracy, it seems that they are beginning to so regard it again. There is a glimmer of hope that the Arabs (along with other peoples of the world) won't be afraid to call themselves friends of the US.

Realistically speaking, before Obama can begin to focus on the Middle East, he'll have to deal with the American economy. So those that express a hope in his policies will need to be patient. I have high hopes for him (perhaps unreasonably so, I admit). So we all will need to be patient. The wheels of progress, like those of history, turn slowly.

One of the blogs the NY Times presented a portion of is MideastYouth.com. I took a quick look at it -- it seems to be a good source for news about the Middle East. It also seems as if a vibrant community gathers there to discuss that region.

(edited by Hersch Bernkovsky)

Obama the Diplomat

I know it's kind of late, but I'm going to officially endorse Obama here. Since the main topic of this blog is peace initiatives in Israel, I'm going to talk about his foreign policy. John McCain's policy toward Israel is just like Bush's. Not that it was bad, he was just uninvolved. Both candidates are pro-Israel but I'd like a president that will be more involved in the peace process. The Palestinians are more enthusiastic with Obama and more likely to trust him to handle peace talks. There is so much potential for him.