Uri Avnery Interview, news from Israel, Palestine and global demonstrations from Tikkun

This is a very heartening read despite the many sad and disturbing references. We have always known that evil and cruelty exist, but when the people rise together across all of Earth to resist it, to call for its end-something beautiful is born from the horror.

We shall overcome. We shall cry, mourn the dead, the wounded and the pointless destruction. But then we will rebuild-not just Gaza, but the spirit of humanity.

We will rebuild our collective humanity as a species made not of war and hate, but of love and compassion, a beautiful thread woven in the tapestry of Life not a tear rent in the fabric of the Universe.
ohnwentsya

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* *Listen to Uri Avnery’s interview from Tel Aviv*, and then read some other articles below from Israel and Palestine. As always, the views we send out reflect our desire to expose our readers to a range of discourse usually unavailable in the Western media–but NOT necessarily our views, which are expressed only in articles signed by Rabbi Michael Lerner or listed as Editorials in Tikkun magazine. We trust our readers to not confuse our desire to expand your range of analyses with a desire to advance any particular analysis unless it is filled with love, hope, compassion, open-hearted generosity and empathy!! Interview with Uri Avnery conducted by Rabbi Michael Lerner and Cat Zavis. Tel Aviv, Friday, July 25 Click here [ http://www.tikkun.org/nextgen/israelgaza-teleconference-audio ]to listen or go to : http://www.tikkun.org/nextgen/ [ http://www.tikkun.org/nextgen/israelgaza-teleconference-audio ]israelgaza-teleconference-audio [ http://www.tikkun.org/nextgen/israelgaza-teleconference-audio ] The first 15 minutes is background by Rabbi Michael Lerner while waiting for technological issues to be resolved till we could reach Uri Avnery on the phone. Lerner has some important insights on how to contextualize the current war in Gaza. Then most of the rest of the call is Uri Avnery, for the next hour or so. Then we have fifteen minutes of questions and conversations from call participants with Cat Zavis about the pain and strain that many who care about both the Israeli and Palestinian people are feeling as we watch the carnage contiue. If you wish Tikkun to conduct more interviews of this sort, but you are not yet a member of the Network of Spiritual Progressives or a subscriber to Tikkun, help us keep going by joining the NSP now by clicking here: www.tikkun.org/donate [ http://www.tikkun.org/donate ]
*Demonstators Assaulted in Tel Aviv After Protesting the Gazan War* Editor’s note: this is a communication we got from Tel Aviv last Friday evening. . It happened after the demonstration -the biggest in Tel Aviv against the war yet, estimates of over 6,000 demonstrators- had mostly dispersed. The now-familiar group of right-wing demonstrators had worked themselves up into a frenzy throughout the speeches by left-wing Knesset Members and bereaved parents and chants to end the war, end the siege, end the occupation, end the violence. They were screaming: “Traitors!” “Death to Arabs and Leftists!” “You all get fucked in the ass!” The usual. The two demonstrations had been tightly cordoned off by the police, though. And then, after. A large number of us were walking away, in a cluster, for safety’s sake, and then suddenly, there’s yelling, screaming, pushing. I don’t know how it started, but I do know that I looked over to see the rightists begin hitting people on the heads with their flag poles, blue and white flags crashing down. I rush over to try to calm things, speaking in an easy tone, making eye contact, and it seems to work with a few of the guys, who hesitate as they look at me. And then: Ffffsssst. And my eyes are burning. I blink rapidly. Could this be tear gas? No. My throat feels clear. But my eyes are stinging and fuzzy. I ask a bearded man next to me, also blinking and tearing up, what happened, and he says: “Pepper spray.” I don’t know if it was the right-wingers or undercover police. Next thing I do know is that I look up to see another demonstrator hit over the head with a aluminum crutch– and then blood starts pouring out, and everything seems more serious and scary. photo 5 [ https://morielrothman.files.wordpress.com/2014/07/photo-53.jpg ] Some activists -a few who I recognized as anarchists experienced at dealing with violence- ask everyone to stay together, and we walk away quickly, as a group. After a block or two, Kobi [ http://www.justvision.org/portrait/kobi-snitz ] asks me to take a few others off to the left, so five of us branch off, and the rest of the group begins to disperse in different directions. We walk, alternating between shocked laughter and silence, my eyes still fuzzy but the pain dulling. A group of about six guys- a few wearing kippahs, all seeming to be Mizrahi/Jews of Middle Eastern descent (a devastating element of these clashes is the race breakdown, with many of the leftists being Ashkenazi/white, and many of the rightists being Mizrahi. My friend, Daria [ https://twitter.com/nehedari ], who is leftist and Mizrahi said that at another demo, she wore a shirt with some phrase about being Moroccan, and folks on both sides of the barrier seemed terribly confused) saw us, recognized something or someone, and started yelling “You all get fucked in the ass!” “Fuck you all!” “We should kill you, traitors.” We kept our eyes down, did not respond, and they walked onwards. Then we got a drink -because we needed to process and because most of Tel Aviv seemed to be bopping along as usual, drinking, chatting, flags flupping, et cetera- and then went home. And the demonstration? The demonstration was good, considering. It was big, it was somber, it took itself seriously. The crowd was by far the biggest since the beginning of this recent violence, and it looked like people were trickling in all night. Here were a few of my tweet-observations: And that is all for tonight. Facebook and twitter report of more demonstrators injured, which is horrible but also really not the story, just the subplot. Gaza. All of the people there. I can’t imagine. I am wired and alert with sadness; it is 1:00 in the morning. Please, enough.

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*HUMANIZE PALESTINE*

by Mazin Qumsiyeh

The holiday at the end of Ramada brings mixed feelings and we could sense
this here in Bethlehem on the faces of our Muslim neighbors, friends and
colleagues. They tell us of their sadness at the massacres of whole
families but they also tell proudly of resistance, persistence, resilience,
self help and help to other. It is still a month of blessings. I was at the
bank of Palestine on Saturday and saw lines of people sending money to
colleagues and friends in Gaza. We had cloth and food drives. Convoys
bringing medical aid are finally being allowed to enter even as 150 bodies
were pulled from under the rubble in one neighborhood alone. Israeli
soldiers speak to Haaretz of large scale destruction of civilian
neighborhoods in Gaza and surprise and fear at the resistance fighters.
Most people understand that Gaza is a big crowded prison that is being
subjected to a most ruthless occupation that destroyed its economy and
means of livelihood. Yet, some Zionists want to convince people that
somehow resistance should not come from within this population! But there
are no winners in the latest conflict started by Israel even though both
resistance forces and Israel claim victory. Israel can claim victory by
destroying so many neighborhoods, killing nearly a thousand civilians (very
few resistance fighters). This they hope will teach a lesson not to resist.
That is a foolish dream for all this does is stoke hatred and call for
revenge from the killers and not decrease support among the population for
resistance. Israeli intelligence agents know this (see for example below
interview with ex-head of the Shin Bet). Israeli leaders know that with
every strike on “Arabs” as they like to call us, resistance actually grows
in strength and supporters. Hamas and other resistance forces gain in
stature and Netanyahu appeared tough and gained some voters from teh racist
right quarters in Israeli politics. Yet, Palestinians lives are lost that
are irreplaceable and faith in human dignity tarnished as western leaders
were forced to defend a an ongoing genocide so that they can please their
Zionist lobbyists.The price paid by all humanity is far too high.

Let me start by actual pictures and names of those Israel murdered. They
are not just numbers (1070 murdered so far including over 200 children).
PLEASE take time to get to know some of themhttp://humanizepalestine.com/ [ http://humanizepalestine.com/ ]
(there were also at least 45 Israeli soldiers killed by resistance fighters
and in some cases directly by Israeli forces; see below)

Now what is the real reason for the Gaza attack? Benjamin Netanyahu blamed
Hamas for taking three young Israeli settlers (colonial squatters in
occupied areas). It turns out even Israeli police knew that Hamas leaders
were not involved (even though teh suspects were never apprehended let
alone charged). Hamas itself said it was not involved. see
http://mondoweiss.net/2014/07/killed-turning-onslaught.html [ http://mondoweiss.net/2014/07/killed-turning-onslaught.html ]

But maybe this is the real reason
Armed robbery in Gaza: Israel, US, UK carve up the spoils of Palestine’s
stolen gas
http://www.theecologist.org/News/news_analysis/2489992/armed_robbery_in_gaza_israel_us_uk_carve_up_the_spoils_of_palestines_stolen_gas.html [http://www.theecologist.org/News/news_analysis/2489992/armed_robbery_in_gaza_israel_us_uk_carve_up_the_spoils_of_palestines_stolen_gas.html ]

Governments lie, people die. Netanyahu is a consummate liar interested in
one thing only: his political and economic career. Most Israelis know that
he told them lies about this latest attack on Gaza, most know he lied to
them about settlements and why he opposed Oslo accords. Most know their
government lied to them about the success of the so called Iron Dome” (a
scam to make millions with success rate below 30%). After all they could
see for themselves falling home made rockets on their cities regularly.
They also know much more. They know that Israeli forces sometimes do the
unthinkable: e.g. Israel Murders IDF Soldier to Prevent His Capture
http://www.richardsilverstein.com/2014/07/26/israel-murders-idf-soldier-to-prevent-his-kidnapping/ [ http://www.richardsilverstein.com/2014/07/26/israel-murders-idf-soldier-to-prevent-his-kidnapping/ ]

Yuval Diskin was the director of Israel’s internal security service Shin
Bet between 2005 and 2011 and he recently 24 July 2014 had an Interview
with Der Spiegel/Reuters. He was asked ” Is Israel not essentially driving
Palestinians into the arms of Hamas? He answered “It looks that way, yes.
The people in the Gaza Strip have nothing to lose right now, just like
Hamas. And this is the problem. As long as Mohammed Morsi of the Muslim
Brotherhood was in power in Egypt, things were going great for Hamas. But
then the Egyptian army took over and within just a few days, the new regime
destroyed the tunnel economy between Gaza and the Sinai Peninsula, which
was crucial for Hamas. Since then, Hamas has been under immense pressure;
it can’t even pay the salaries of its public officials.”

Divkin also Stated that “The army is now trying to destroy the tunnels
between Israel and the Gaza Strip with a kind of mini-invasion, also so
that the government can show that it is doing something. …It is in equal
parts action for the sake of action and aggressive posturing.” But then he
even reveals something that all Israeli leaders know but choose to ignore:
“They [Palestinians] will never accept the status quo of the Israeli
occupation. When people lose hope for an improvement of their situation,
they radicalize. That is the nature of human beings. The Gaza Strip is the
best example of that. All the conditions are there for an explosion. So
many times in my life I was at these junctions that I can feel it almost in
my fingertips.”

He goes on to predict accurately increased shifts to extremism in Israeli
society and admitted that Israel deals with Palestinian terror different
than it does with Jewish terror. Full interview here:
http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/interview-with-former-israeli-security-chief-yuval-diskin-a-982094.html [ http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/interview-with-former-israeli-security-chief-yuval-diskin-a-982094.html ]
His observations while from a Zionist colonial perspective fits in
predicting a pressure cooker about to explode with other observers for
example see this from someone who lived in Jenin for a while: The Paper
Thin Underpinnings to Peace: Occupation and Intifada in 2014

Those of us who cut through the lies act. There were demonstration in over
100 cities including Tokyo, Paris, London, Chicago, New York, Washington,
Cairo, Tunis, Rabat etc). Some had tens of thousands and some over 100,000
participants. Here are just some inspiring photos:
http://mondoweiss.net/2014/07/worldwide-protest-israeli.html [ http://mondoweiss.net/2014/07/worldwide-protest-israeli.html ]
There was even a demonstration of a few thousand in Tel Aviv objecting to
the slaughter in Gaza. Some Israeli soldiers and reserves refused orders to
mobilize to Gaza. All these demonstrations had mixed groups of people (all
ethnicities and all religions). The few demonstrations for Israel and in
support of killing Palestinians were tiny and included only Jewish Zionists
(the largest was as expected in New York with a few hundred particularly
angry and racist ones). We must concentrate on doing more positive actions
and publicizing them. “Lighting a candle instead of cursing the darkness”
as the old Chinese saying goes. I leave you with poignant note that a
Church in Gaza is now home to dozens of displaced Muslim families. The
pastor said that Islamic prayers in his church are welcome as Israel
destroys mosques. That is the Palestine I love. That is the Palestine that
will win. Decent Jewish citizens in the US were arrested as they
demonstrated inside the NY offices of “Friends of the IDF” (a group
supporting child killers tax deductible). That is the humanity that I love.

Let me end again with the pictures of Gaza Palestinians. Meet them and
remember them http://humanizepalestine.com/ [ http://humanizepalestine.com/ ] for they are not just numbers
(1060 so far including 200 children)

Action is the best antidote to despair

Best

Mazin
#Gaza_under_attack

The Hidden Real Reason for the Bombing and Invasion of Gaza

I just received this from a friend. I’m not surprised by the kidnappers/murderers NOT being Palestinian, nor by the natural gas being the cause of violence against indigenous people-we see this constantly in North, Central and South America.

I just hope those who ARE surprised will do the research to become more aware and then ACT on that awareness.

Violence and racism against indigenous peoples from Africa to the Americas to Ukraine, Palestine, Iraq, Australia(East Timor!) and Tibet has ALWAYS been rooted in this greed for resources.

Please keep the people in all of these myriad conflicts and violence in your prayers. Greed may arise endlessly in the colonized, but Love and prayer have power far beyond the small power of violence and murder.

Blessings,
ohnwentsya

“On July 7, 2014 Israel began a massive assault on the Gaza strip of Palestine. In the first week alone Israel dropped over 400 tons of bombs, killing over 130 Palestinians. Most were civilians, about half of them were women and children. By the time you are watching the the number will be higher. “Israel’s official justification for this wholesale slaughter: the murder of three Israeli teenagers which Israel blames on Hamas. That’s not the real reason. First of all, Israel has not produced one single piece of evidence implicating Hamas or even a Palestinian in the murders, and in fact the the evidence we do have indicates that that murderers were Israeli. You see on Tuesday July 1st, The Jerusalem Post released the audio of the kidnapped teen’s distress call to police, and in that call the kidnappers can be heard telling the boys to put their heads down in HEBREW. According to the Jerusalem Post, prior to being leaked to the public this audio was being held under a gag order by the Israeli government. “So why is Israel really attacking Gaza? It’s not about self defense and it’s obviously not about avenging those three teenagers. Those are just cover stories for the naive. What this is really about is natural gas. “It turns out that Gaza has quite a bit of natural gas on its coastline. One of the largest sources in the region. British Gas, which holds a joint exploration agreement for the area estimates that the fields hold at least 1 trillion cubic feet of gas. That gas belongs to the Palestinian people and they should be the ones to benefit from it. Israel disagrees. “After the death of Yasser Arafat, under questionable circumstances, Israel has controlled those fields, and British Gas has negotiated with Tel Aviv. “With power divided between the Palestinian Authority and Hamas, the Palestinians have been too weak to put up any meaningful, resistance and Israel would like to keep it that way. The Unity Government between Hamas and the Palestinian Authority threatens Israel’s control of those fields, and as such it has to be destroyed. “It’s pretty basic really. These are the real motives of all wars: resources, territory and power. They’ll always come up with an excuse, and it’s easy to fall for them if you don’t do your research, but there’s also a really easy way to avoid getting duped: always stand against wars of aggression. Period. Make it a matter of principle, and the facts and morality will always end up being on your side. “And speaking of morality, even if those teenagers had been killed by Hamas, what kind of psychopath thinks that this gives Israel the right to go and kill over a hundred people who had nothing to do with it? We’re talking about little kids here. “I’m not going to show you the pictures of the dead or dying children here in this video, but I have looked at them, and as a father it’s almost unbearable to see. If hearing about those bombs falling doesn’t phase you emotionally, if this is just a political debate for you, then go look at the pictures (these for example). You have no right to defend what Israel is doing, if you don’t have the courage to even glance at the consequences. “And anyone who would justify these crimes after seeing the civilian casualties should be ashamed of themselves. “The bombing heavily populated residential areas is a war crime, and the US government is funding it with your tax dollars. That’s right. Israel receives over 3 billion dollars in foreign aid from the US each year. “Of course it’s no accident that you’ve never had face what’s being done to the Palestinian’s in your name. If you turn on the mainstream media at any point during this crisis all you’ll see is constant stream of reports focusing on the Palestinian rockets being fired in response. These reports conveniently fail to mention that as of yet these primitive rockets have not killed one single Israeli. “The Obama administration is also running with this artificial narrative. “But the rockets, the rockets! Let’s all bring this back to the puny homemade rockets that the Palestinians are launching out of desperation and frame this as a question of Israel’s self-defense. Video (under 10 minutes): The Gaza Bombardment: What You’re Not Being Told http://www.forbiddenknowledgetv.com/page/26543.html – Alexandra P.S. Please share Forbidden Knowledge TV e-mails and videos with your friends and colleagues. That’s how we grow. Thanks. Alexandra Bruce Publisher, ForbiddenKnowledgeTV.com Daily Videos from the Edges of Science

Israel: Stop the Invasion of Gaza, Stop the Bombing of Gaza, Free the Palestinian Prisoners | Rabbi Michael Lerner

I can’t help crying when I read this, but my gut feeling and my heart tell me it would work.

The majority of people in both Israel and Palestine are good hearted, caring and spiritual people.

The fear filled warmongers must be isolated by the rest of humanity wherever they reside, so they can no longer take power and subject the rest of us to their insanity and spiritual sickness.

I hope you will all read, share and discuss this essay with everyone you know.

We do have the power each of us, and collectively, as citizens of the Earth to change the dominant paradigm of war, hatred, fear, power over and control, and worship of money to something more real and humane for all.

Blessings,
ohnwentsya

Israel: Stop the Invasion of Gaza, Stop the Bombing of Gaza, Free the Palestinian Prisoners

By Rabbi Michael Lerner

According to Ha’aretz correspondent Amira Hass, the IDF has been conducting mass arrests in the West Bank, between 10 and 30 every day. 24 of the arrested are members of the Palestinian parliament from Hamas’ Change and Reform party. The number of those arrested since the kidnapping and murder of the Israeli teens has already exceeded 1,000. The Palestinians are convinced that most of those detained have nothing to do with the kidnapping and that these are mainly political arrests for purposes of intimidation and revenge.

This is just the tip of the iceberg. Tens of thousands of young Palestinian men have experienced arrest, torture, loss of employment, and have been unable to protect their parents, partners and friends from arbitrary and repressive treatment from IDF Occupation forces. The surprising thing is that despite this inhumane and emasculating treatment, few Palestinians have engaged in acts of violence or desperation.

I’ve argued that acts of desperation can be self-destructive. Many Palestinians will suffer for the acts of the few Palestinian Hamas extremists. But since Hamas activists have come to believe that even if they do nothing they will still be targeted, some are saying that acting out violently against the Occupation is the only thing that can restore their dignity since nothing will restore their land. I think that this is a mistake for Gaza and the West Bank. Sometimes I think that Hamas doesn’t really even care for its own citizens in Gaza-they care more about showing that non-violence will never work to challenge Israel’s occupation, and they are willing to let the people of Gaza pay the price, namely the invasion of Gaza by the Israeli army with the inevitable consequence of many more than the 220 Palestinians already killed in the past two weeks. And yet, it is hard to deny that the Israeli Occupation is so repressive and dishonoring of Palestinians that some young men have taken to violence, while others see those acts as the only thing that can momentarily give people a relief from the emotional depression of years under Occupation generates. Yet the violence against Israeli civilian targets has pushed the politics of Israel even further to the Right.

For those of us like myself who care about the well-being of all people on the planet, not only my own Jewish people, but all peoples. The high toll of Palestinian civilians is horrifying-several thousand civilians already wounded according to Palestinian sources. This will likely lead to more Hamas terrorists. But not only is the war stupid from the standpoint of Jewish self-interest, it is also immoral in the extreme. None of this would have happened if Israel had been serious about negotiating an end to the Occupation. But as Prime Minister Netanyahu made clear in his press conference last week, he never intends to give the Palestinian people an independent state of their own.

Israel must end the invasion, stop its bombing of Gaza, free the Palestinians it has arrested in the past years, and abandon its insane policy of seeking security through domination. This approach may work in a dictatorial regime for a little while, but even in those circumstances, the repression only works for a limited period (ask the former leaders of the Soviet Community party). Instead, Israel needs a generosity strategy, not only agreeing to a Palestinian state in the West Bank, the release of all Occupation-related prisoners, getting the US and its Western allies to provide a massive reparation fund to support the new Palestinian state till it achieves economic and political parity with Israel, share Jerusalem as the capital of both an Israeli and Palestinian state, an end to teaching hatred and racism in its schools and media in exchange for Palestine doing the same, but also agreeing to allow 20,000 Palestinian refugees a year to move to Israel each year for the next forty years in exchange for Palestine allowing Israelis living in the West Bank to stay in their settlements as law-abiding citizens of the new Palestinian state and subject to Palestinian law and court system (just as Palestinians living inside the pro-67 borders of Israel are subject to Israeli law and Israeli courts). If Israel could apologize for its part (partial, not total) in creating the Palestinian refugee population, create jointly with Palestinians a Truth and Reconciliation process similar to that done in South Africa, and accept an international force to police the borders and protect both Israel and the Palestinians from the inevitable extremist attacks by Hamas and Israeli settle fanatics, and most importantly if as the more powerful party in the struggle can act with a genuine spirit of open-heartedness to the Palestinian people in seeking to help rebuild all that it had destroyed in Gaza and the West Bank, its spirit of generosity would within less than ten years undermine the hold of Hamas on a large section of that fundamentalist group’s political base in both the West Bank and Gaza. In the Middle East, particularly among Arab communities, there is no stronger “weapon” than generosity and genuine caring for the well-being of the other. So, yes, Hamas can start to lose its constituency fastest when Israel becomes most generous and caring, or Hamas can grow into a permanent majority the more that Israel relies on its current strategy of domination.

This focus on the psycho-spiritual dimension of the struggle and the need for a strategy of generosity is precisely what Tikkun brings to the table through our Network of Spiritual Progressives and which you’ll find sorely missing in most of the analyses whether from Israeli, Palestinian, European or American political analysts, editorialists, politicians, and media reporters and even leftie protesters. Yet it is this dimension, which is ignored to their peril by all who care about the well-being of both peoples. So, yes, we demand an end to the bombing of Gaza and the invasion of Gaza, just as we have demanded of Hamas that it stop its attempted bombings of Israel. It’s time for a brand new direction, but only you, the reader of this point can make it happen. For more information as to how, please read my book Embracing Israel/Palestine, join our interfaith and secular-humanist-welcoming Network of Spiritual Progressives atcat or atinfo.

Rabbi Michael Lerner is the editor of Tikkun Magazine, chair of the Network of Spiritual Progressives, rabbi of Beyt Tikkun Synagogue-Without-Walls in S.F. and Berkeley, Ca. and author of 11 books incluidng two national best sellers: Jewish Renewal: A Path to Healing and Transformation and The Left Hand of God: Taking Back our Country from the Religious Right. His most recent book is Embracing Israel/Palestine (available as a kindle book from RabbiLerner.Tikkun

More Sorrow in Palestine/Israel

I have tears running down my face as I type this. My heart and prayers go out to everyone involved in and affected by the conflict in Palestine/Israel.

I’m so sad that more children have died on both sides. More families are broken hearted, and the warmongers predictably clattering swords ominously without any respect at all for the real human beings suffering from their idiotic knee jerk responses.

I believe Rabbi Lerner is correct that peace will only come from everyone reaching out to one another in their common suffering, recognizing one another’s humanity and acting from love, forgiveness and hope for a better future.

We cannot change the past but we can change now.

Please join me in praying for this terrible situation to be transformed into an opportunity to create peace instead of an excuse for more endless violence and suffering.
ohnwentsya

We at Tikkun are in mourning for the three teens murdered in the West Bank. We find this act painful and outrageous. There can be no excuse for this kind of act.

AND we know that the revenge/retaliation acts of Israel will only bring about more acts of violence. The cycle will continue until Israel ends the Occupation and accepts a peace arrangement generous enough both in its particulars and in the spirit in which it is offered as to undermine the support for Hamas in the West Bank and Gaza and to empower the voices of Palestinian peace-makers.

Those terms are presented in my book “Embracing Israel/Palestine” (www.tikkun.org/EIP) ; and in the Winter 2014 issue of Tikkun magazine, and they require a deep change in approach from both Israel and Palestine (there are no pure victims or pure oppressors–but there are many people locked into fear and anger and hatred and until that is healed and the cycle of violence actively opposed by people in both communities, the leaders and the haters will shape the realities people on all sides will continue to face).

We plead with the leadership of Israel to take the first steps because Israel is the more powerful force, not because we believe that Israel deserves all the blame for the current mess. Those first steps would be to embrace the strategy of generosity and caring for the other explicitly called for in the Torah over and over again.

Until that happens, we urge all Israelis and people from around the world to not endanger their children by bringing, sending or funding them to be in the West Bank, which is defacto a war zone. We fear that the hatred generated by Israel’s acts of retaliation will eventually blow back onto Israelis and world Jewry.

The choice is simple: endless war, violence and suffering, or a new spirit of generosity, caring, empathy for “the Other,” and with that an explicit willingness to admit and atone for the sins that each side has committed against the other. Both sides need to stop all their self-righteousness, break the cycle of violence, and reach out to the other side with unequivocal acts of atonement.

Below, we present two responses, one from a regular Tikkun columnist Ury Avnery, chair of the Israeli peace movement Gush Sholom, the other from a Palestinian human rights activist whose perspective differs radically from ours but must also be considered because there will be no peace till both sides have their stories told. Meanwhile, we remain in deep grief for the loss of lives on all sides, for the children and teens (and yes, their parents and grandparents and families and communities) on both sides who have been murdered, victims of terror, imprisoned unjustly, or otherwise fallen victim to this conflict which could have been ended many years ago. All the violence, all the hatred, so terribly and tragically unnecessary! As a rabbi and a Jew, I call for fellow Jews to reject the one-sided focus, to mourn all the victims on all sides, because although of course we feel a special pain for the loss of these teens who are our own, part of the family of the Jewish people, and so understandably we care especially about them, nevertheless we must model a different way of being in which we show our caring also for the suffering of those in the Palestinian world who have seen their children beaten, tortured, imprisoned, shot or killed. So we stand with all those in pain, all those in need of healing, not only among our own people but among those whom we have unintentionally hurt. It is only with this open-hearted compassion and empathy for all that we can hope to break the cycle of violence before it escalates to a level that will never ever stop. And this way of being “unrealistic” is precisely what the Torah commands when it tells us “do not take revenge” and instead proclaims an ethos of “love the Other” (not just tolerate, but LOVE). May it soon be the case that we will hear from the hills of Juday, and in the outskirts of Jerusalem a voice of joy and gladness, kol sason ve kol simcha, a voice of peace and reconciliation.

–Rabbi Michael Lerner RabbiLerner.tikkun

*A Response from Israel: Uri Avnery from Gush Shalom: *
“The kidnapping and murder of three boys is a crime deserving all condemnation”, says former Knesset Member Uri Avnery of Gush Shalom. “No political cause can justify such an act, and among other things the perpetrators caused grave damage to the Palestinian people. The three boys now join the very long and terrible list of victims, members of both peoples, who were killed in the cause of a bloody conflict which has already lasted for more than a century. Also and especially on this harsh and tragic moment, it must be said: *only the achievement of peace between enemies can end conflicts and put a stop to bloodshed.* It is a stormy moment, when inflammatory cries are made for revenge and the landing of a blow on the other side. It would be a grave mistake for the State of Israel to take such a route, which would lead only to bloodshed and more bloodshed, revenge and counter-revenge and counter-counter-revenge. Only peace between Israelis and Palestinians, between the exisiting state of Israel and the state of Palestine which will arise at its side, bears the hope that these three boys will be the last victims.”

*A Response From Mazin Qumsiyeh, a Palestinian Human Rights Activist from Bethlehem*

*When will this Insanity End? *

A sadly familiar scene over the past two weeks here in occupied Palestine: 10 Palestinians (including a 7 and 15 year old) and three Israeli settlers (16 – 19 year old) were killed. Dozens of Palestinian homes were demolished in the past two weeks. Over 570 more Palestinians were kidnapped in these two weeks making more than 6000 abductees languishing in Israeli gulags/prisons. 1500 Palestinian homes invaded without due process. 12 million native Palestinians still await their freedom from colonial occupation and displacement. And Israeli leaders are promising to “do more” (genocidal mayhem?). But the question remains when will this insanity end? Can it end by negotiations between occupied and occupier; negotiations that have been going on for 22 years while Israel gets $12 billion profit every year from its occupation? (that is not counting the billions from US taxpayers).

When will Israel be led by people like the previous speaker of the Israeli Knesset Avraham Berg instead of racists like Netanyahu. Listen to the wise words of Berg:

“Here are Israel’s shallow prime minister and the bumbling police, the masses who cling to futile prayers and not to a moment of human peace. Here are the country’s hypocritical chief rabbis, who just a month ago demanded promises from the pope regarding the future of the Jewish people, but in their daily lives remain silent about the fate of the people who are our neighbors, trampled beneath the pressure of occupation and racism under the leadership of rabbis who receive exorbitant salaries and benefits….Despite the enormous and inspiring success of Breaking the Silence (an NGO that collects testimony from soldiers who’ve served in the West Bank), our own total silence is still the loudest thing around us. We are willing to go out of our minds over one odd and troublesome Pollard, a lone kidnap victim or three kidnap victims, but we are incapable of understanding the suffering of a whole society, its cry, and the future of an entire nation that has been kidnapped by us. This, too, needs to be said and heard during this moment of clarity – and as loudly as possible.”
“The Palestinians: A kidnapped society: We are incapable of understanding the suffering of a society, its cry, and the future of an entire nation that has been kidnapped by us” By Avraham Berghttp://www.haaretz.com/opinion/.premium-1.599318 [ http://www.haaretz.com/opinion/.premium-1.599318]

And how about the inspiring and wise words of Catholic Patriarch Michel Sabbah writing from Jerusalem congratulating Muslims on the start of Ramadan:
“We all are sectarian, Christians or Muslims. We all need to continuously purify the faith in us to overcome the sectarian. The believer is one who remembers God and sees all as his creation, So he worships God and respects all his creation no matter any religion they are. ..He sees any other as a brother or sister. The sectarian has strife in him and is distant from God. He sees only himself or his family or his clan. … I hope that we all become believers, and our faith overcomes all sectarian tendency.”

I am reminded of the good spirited picture someone shared on Facebook, a family where the father carries a sign that said “I am Sunni”, the mother a sign that said “I am Shia”, and the little girl carries a sign “I am Sushi”. In another video I noted fraternizing between members of the Syrian army and the opposing “Free Syrian army” that reminded me of 1914 when opposing German and British soldiers disobeyed orders of their commanders in WWI and decided to get together in Christmas and become friends. (see http://www.eyewitnesstohistory.com/trenches.htm [http://www.eyewitnesstohistory.com/trenches.htm ]). The war mongers do not stop unless the people stop them. But at this moment is when we see candles of light in this darkness being lit everywhere. Palestinians and Israelis working together to achieve peace (e.g. Israeli and Palestinian association of bereaved families). A small group of activists including Jewish Voice for Peace and Palestinian Americans recently managed to outmaneuver the well-funded movement that hijacked US policy. These good people managed to get the Presbyterians to divest holding in three companies that profit from the Israeli occupation. The whole world is getting tired of this apartheid and is starting to shake-off the intimidation.

Netanyahu can only kill more people, can only create more false flag operations. He has decided to speed-up the Judaizing of Jerusalem and removal of its native people. He can work for what he calls “Kurdish independence”. The US and Israeli governments can continue to try and fund sectarianism and create divisions. They pursue the silly and dangerous notion that creating other sectarian states will finally give legitimacy to the “Jewish state” and its systematic ethnic cleansing of Palestine. They produce few “successes” like strengthening the Mujahideen to remove the soviets from Afghanistan or strengthening the “Sunni” Mujahideen to fight the Iran/Shia Boogie man. But beware of the monsters you create and instead try to create the peace that will be only based on justice. And beware of the sophistication and power of people who are increasingly not buying all your propaganda.

Peace in Jerusalem = peace on earth.

Ramadan Kareem to our Muslim Brothers and Sisters

And to all: Stay human!

Mazin Qumsiyeh
Bethlehem, Occupied Palestine

Editor’s Endnote: I find some of the language in Mazin Qumsiyeh’s message offensive, particularly when he describes the 3 murdered Israeli teens as “settlers” which they assuredly were not! While Israel has created an apartheid reality on the West Bank, it is not intrinsically “an apartheid” state (ask the Israeli Palestinians who have equal rights with Israeli Jews) nor is its policy one of “systematic ehtnic cleansing” (again, ask Israeli Palestinians how much they’ve faced such ethnic cleansing). There is little point in inflammatory rhetoric when what is needed is a spirit of reconciliation. But then again, the Netanyahu government has had the opposite of a rhetoric of reconciliation–and some of the elements in his ruling coalition are even more extreme. So, I present his views not because they represent the voice of those who are seeking reconciliation, but because he articulates a perspective that is widespread among Palestinians who want to end the struggle and who reject Hamas’ direction but whose anger at the evils of the Occupation make it hard for Israelis to feel safe in any path but continuing to tighten their hold on the necks of the Palestinian people. Oy, what a terrible mess! Perhaps this is a moment when we should be calling on the mothers of Israel and Palestine to come together for the sake of all the children and demand that their leaders end the violence.

–Rabbi Michael Lerner

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Teachers Union of Ireland calls for Academic Boycott of Israel in unanimous vote; first academic union in Europe to do so | Ireland Palestine Solidarity Campaign

Teachers Union of Ireland calls for Academic Boycott of Israel in unanimous vote; first academic union in Europe to do so

At its Annual Congress on Thursday 4th April 2013, the Teachers Union of Ireland (TUI) became the first academic union in Europe to endorse the Palestinian call for an academic boycott of Israel. The motion, which refers to Israel as an apartheid state, calls for all members to cease all cultural and academic collaboration with Israel, including the exchange of scientists, students and academic personalities, as well as all cooperation in research programmes was passed by a unanimous vote during todays morning session.

The motion further calls on the Irish Congress of Trade Unions to step up its campaign for boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) against the apartheid state of Israel until it lifts its illegal siege of Gaza and its illegal occupation of the West Bank, and agrees to abide by International law and all UN Resolutions against it, and on the TUI to conduct an awareness campaign amongst members on the need for BDS. The motion was a composite motion proposed by the TUI Executive Committee and TUI Dublin Colleges Branch. It was presented by Jim Roche, a lecturer in the DIT School of Architecture and member of the TUI Dublin Colleges Union branch, and seconded by Gerry Quinn, Vice President of the TUI.

Speaking after the successful passage of the motion, Jim Roche said: I am very pleased that this motion was passed with such support by TUI members, especially coming the day after Israeli occupation forces shot and killed two Palestinian teenagers in the West Bank yesterday. BDS is a noble non-violent method of resisting Israeli militarism, occupation and apartheid, and there is no question that Israel is implementing apartheid policies against the Palestinians. Indeed, many veterans of the anti-apartheid struggle in South Africa have said that its worse than what was experienced there.

Mr. Roche pointed to the desperate situation of Palestinian education under occupation saying that: Palestinians are struggling for the right to education under extremely difficult conditions. They are eager for it, as shown by the large numbers of students in third level education inside and outside the occupied Palestinian territories. Education has always been a target of the Israeli occupation, seeing forced closures of universities, disruption under checkpoint, closure and curfew regimes, and arrests, beatings and killing of both students and teachers. Sometimes, such as during the 2008-09 attack on Gaza, educational institutions have been militarily attacked. In fact I have just returned from a solidarity visit to Gaza where I had the opportunity to hear first-hand from Palestinian educators and students about their difficulties. The unanimous passage of this motion that shows that the Palestinian struggle for freedom, of which academic freedom is a key part, resonates with TUI members and sends a strong message of solidarity to their counterparts in Palestine

Mr. Roche concluded: We proposed this motion as we believe that, as with South Africa, the trade union movement has a vital role to play in helping apply pressure to end Israeli apartheid and occupation. I am proud that the TUI has taken a clear stand, and now support a full academic boycott of Israel in line with the Palestinian call for BDS.

Dr. David Landy, a member of the Ireland-Palestine Solidarity Campaign and founder member of Academics for Palestine welcomed the motion saying: This is an historic precedent, being the first such motion in Europe to explicitly call for an academic boycott of Israel. We congratulate the TUI and call on all Irish, British and European academic unions to move similar motions. Undoubtedly apologists for Israeli apartheid will complain that such motions stifle academic freedom, but this is nonsense. The Palestinian call for an academic boycott of Israel is an institutional boycott, not a boycott of individuals. Ironically, those that will jump to complain about this motion will have no words of condemnation for the de facto boycott imposed on Palestinian education by Israel, nor for its continuing attacks on Palestinian education, students and educators.

ENDS

Notes

The TUI Motion in full reads:

241. Executive Committee/Dublin Colleges(x4)

TUI demand that ICTU step up its campaign for boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) against the apartheid state of Israel until it lifts its illegal siege of Gaza and its illegal occupation of the West Bank, and agrees to abide by International law and all UN Resolutions against it.
Congress instructs the Executive Committee to:
(a) Conduct an awareness campaign amongst TUI members on the need for BDS
(b) Request all members to cease all cultural and academic collaboration with Israel, including the exchange of scientists, students and academic personalities, as well as all cooperation in research programmes. (ENDS)

The Palestinian Call for a Cultural and Academic Boycott of Israel can be read here:

Jim Roche is a lecturer in DIT School of Architecture and a member of the TUI Dublin Colleges Branch He is also PRO of the Irish Anti-War Movement and a member of both the Ireland-Palestine Solidarity Campaign and Gaza Action Ireland.

David Landy is a lecturer in the TCD Department of Sociology, a member of the Ireland-Palestine Solidarity Campaign national committee and a founder member of Academics for Palestine

Posted April 4, 2013 in Academic Boycott, Apartheid, BDS, BNC, Cultural Boycott, Gaza, Human Rights, National Rights, Political Rights, Press releases, West Bank.

Ireland Palestine Solidarity Campaign
Second Floor, 18 Capel Street, Dublin 1, Ireland. 01-8727798

http://www.ipsc.ie/press-releases/teachers-union-of-ireland-calls-for-academic-boycott-of-israel-in-unanimous-vote-first-academic-union-in-europe-to-do-so

Rachel Corrie, CODEPINK and the Persistence of Memory

I just received an email from CODEPINK, which I have posted below so you can all read it and access the links they provided.

10 years ago I, along with a lot of other people, was shocked, horrified and dismayed to hear that a man driving a bulldozer-in the process of bulldozing Palestinian peoples houses to make way for a “security wall” had purposefully run over and killed a young American woman who was in Palestine as a Peace Witness, Rachel Corrie.

I have never understood how bulldozing houses that people are living in can be allowed in a so called civilized country. I never understood why the horrors of occupation can go on for so long and the majority of people worldwide simply turn away and ignore it. Here in St Petersburg we have a Holocaust Museum, and the oft repeated refrain of “Never Again” is applied to such treatment of human beings-while it goes on every day in Palestine.

How can that be? How can people say it is wrong to treat people as tho they have no right to safety, dignity or decency and ignore it happening right now?

As usual, when the courageous young woman was murdered, it was swept under the rug, excuses were made and the bulldozer driver faced no punishment. The country of the murdered girl made no diplomatic sanctions on the country where she was murdered, no ultimatum, no fine or anything to acknowledge the value of her young life, summarily snuffed out.

It is true however of Rachel Corrie, what Robin Hood once said about another hero, in another age. She “Is not forgotten, Nothing is ever forgotten.”

The Universe has a long memory, every particle that has ever been in contact(if you believe the Big Bang theory that would mean EVERY particle there is) remembers that contact and is able to affect every other particle it was once in contact with.

That is a really long winded way of saying that everything is always connected, All Is One.

So, like all those whose names we do not know, whose lives have been stolen by oppressive regimes with their endless excuses down thru history into the present-from the small dark haired people whose descendants still live in Brittany, Cornwall, Scotland, Ireland and Wales mixed among the waves of conquerors starting with the fabled Celts, to the Calusa, the Blackfoot, the Shoshone and Anishinaabe, the Maya, Aymara, Tupa, Maori and a thousand more, to those in Palestine today; Rachel Corrie is not forgotten.

Her name, and all of theirs are written in flames in the heart of the world and very soon those flames will burn away the vestiges of the system of power over that made such oppression possible.

If you want to add kindling, to fan the flames or maybe pour some gasoline on;-) then click the links below, read more about what is really going on, and get involved in whatever way works for you.

Oppression and murder of those who stand against it are wrong-no matter who is the oppressor, and who the victim.

When we the people of the Earth stand united in our refusal to accept it, to stand by and passively watch or ignore as others are harmed and killed for someone’s monetary benefit (because that is ALWAYS why) then it will end.

Those who harm and those who ignore harm and allow it to go on, can never escape the truth of their actions, and inactions.

~~~~ Nothing is Ever Forgotten. ~~~~

President Obama is preparing for his visit to Israel on March 20th, just four days after the anniversary of Rachel Corrie’s death. March 16, 2013 marks 10 years since the brutal killing of Rachel Corrie by a Caterpillar bulldozer in Rafah, Gaza, as she tried to prevent Israeli forces from demolishing a Palestinian home. As the Rachel Corrie Foundation marks the 10th anniversary of her death with a call to action, we urge people to continue her legacy by staying educated and engaged.

Staying educated can be as simple as watching a movie, such as the award-winning films 5 Broken Cameras or Budrus. Both cover the nonviolent resistance efforts in the West Bank and are conveniently available on Netflix.

Prefer to read? Learn the history of the conflict with Ilan Pappe’s The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine, available for instant download on kindle. Stay current with Ben Ehrenreich’s article in the NYTimes, Is This Where the Third Intifada Will Start? and Joseph Levine’s On Questioning the Jewish State.

In Rachel’s words, “The international media and our government are not going to tell us that we are effective, important, justified in our work, courageous, intelligent, valuable. We have to do that for each other, and one way we can do that is by continuing our work, visibly.” So let us now work together, stay educated and involved, and value each other’s work, to bring about justice in Palestine.

In loving solidarity,
CODEPINK

P.S.- Find an event near you to commemorate Rachel Corrie’s stand in Gaza, or create your own event and submit it to the Rachel Corrie Foundation.

PressTV – Obama to demand Israel withdraw from West Bank: Report

Obama to demand Israel withdraw from West Bank: Report

US President Barack Obama (R) next to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (file photo)

Mon Mar 4, 2013 1:32PM GMT

US President Barack Obama is going to demand a timetable for an Israeli withdrawal from the occupied West Bank during his visit to Israel later this month, a report says.

The World Tribune quoted on Monday an unnamed Israeli official as saying that “Obama has made it clear to [Israeli
Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu that his visit is not about photo-ops, but the business of Iran and a Palestinian state.

The implication is that if Israel wont give him something he can work with, then hell act on his own, the report quoted the source as saying.

According to the report, an Israeli pullout plan could be part of an imminent US push to form a Palestinian state in the West Bank in 2014.

More than half a million Israelis live in more than 120 settlements built since the 1967 Israeli occupation of the West Bank and East al-Quds (Jerusalem).

Meanwhile, violent acts are carried out on a weekly basis in the Palestinian territories by Israeli settlers.

The Israeli settlements are considered illegal by the UN and most countries because those territories were captured by Israel in the 1967 war, and are thus seen as being subject to the Geneva Conventions, which forbid construction on occupied lands.

The Israeli regime increased its settlement activities after an upgrade in the Palestinian status at the United Nations General Assembly on November 29, 2012. The 193-member General Assembly voted 138-9 with 41 abstentions to upgrade Palestines status to non-member observer state.

http://www.presstv.ir/detail/2013/03/04/291866/us-to-ask-israel-to-pull-out-of-west-bank/

Related Interviews:

‘World must boycott apartheid Israel’

‘Obama freer to act against lobbies’

Omar Barghouti on How to End Apartheid in Palestine

Omar Barghouti on How to End Apartheid in Palestine.

What Will Happen in Palestine Friday Morning?

(Excerpts from the article By Robert Naiman at Truthout)

One of the many graffiti pictures on a wall that separates Palestine and Israel. (Photo: No Lands Too Foreign / flickr)

Could Americans force the story of Palestinian nonviolent resistance to land confiscation onto the agenda of mainstream US media?

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To be effective, a strategy of nonviolent resistance to injustice requires an audience.

Sometimes Western pundits have asked: Where are the Palestinian Gandhis? But when Palestinians have engaged in nonviolent protest and have been suppressed by Israeli occupation forces, Western pundits have been largely silent. The pundits’ words communicate one thing; the choice by Western media to largely ignore nonviolent Palestinian protest movements communicates the opposite.

****************************************************

There is a precedent that may be relevant. When Occupy Wall Street began, it was ignored at first by mainstream media. To find out what was going on, you had to go to social media like Twitter. When the story became well-established in social media, mainstream media had to take notice.

******************************************************

Thousands of Americans have already signed our pledge. You can join them here.

(This is a selection of brief excerpts from this article-Please see the whole article and links to others like it at Truthout http://www.truth-out.org/opinion/item/14123-what-will-happen-in-palestine-friday-morning)

{category action, awareness, leadership]

Obama pushed Israel to accept Egyptian cease-fire agreement friendly to Hamas

Obama pushed Israel to accept Egyptian cease-fire agreement friendly to Hamas

Much thanks to Laura for sharing this info! I must add for my own readers a warning that the source for that article was astonishingly negative, and the comments even more so. The original site appears to be a rather racist and overall biased, negative and lowered vibration sort of site, but it is good that they pointed out the skill with which President Obama appears to be maneuvering us toward the global peace and justice that channeled sources have said he is to help bring about.

I have been overjoyed to see President Obama actually doing something in support of the indigenous people, something almost unheard of for American Presidents(except Jimmy Carter who regularly writes very informed articles about this issue).

I thought it was a sign of the leadership abilities so often attributed to him by the channeled sources that say he is a lightworker. . He seems able to genuinely support win-win solutions and have real care for the suffering of ALL the people involved rather than picking a favored side and pushing their agenda.

The article above does not seem very aware of international diplomacy or how things like peace treaties brokered by other states work-when they claim there are no curbs on missiles from Gaza. As Egypt is the guarantor of Hamas good behaviour it is far more assured than at any time in the past, since Morsi’s government is so new and he needs to establish good ties with the US, and Israel to maintain stability he will be far harder for any radicals in Hamas to get around that any leader of Fatah has been.

It is to the benefit of everyone in the region that conditions in Israel and Palestine improve, and the only way that can happen is by ongoing dialogue and improvement in the actions of the leaders involved. Logically the *leaders* of Hamas are NOT the most radical among them, and they are surely more concerned for the well being of the people in Gaza than any pie in the sky idea of pushing Israel out of existence-or they would not be leaders of the people who have to live there along with their extended families, friends etc.
Contrary to racist sites like this source and other blinded by duality and lower 3d consciousness people, Arabs, Muslims and even the Muslim Brotherhood and Hamas are NOT crazed monolithic entities of hate. They are, just like the rest of us a collective of individuals with their own life experiences, spiritual practices, love for the families and friends and hopes for the future. The comic book villains that propaganda make Muslim groups like the Brotherhood and Hamas out to be are ONLY real in comic books. They are racist, and ridiculous parodies of human beings. Since the time of the Crusades, it has been readily apparent in encounter after encounter that the Muslim fighters have a sense of honour and morality in most cases far more developed than those of the Western invaders who for instance use white phosphorous on children and spread DU over entire countries causing endless birth defects and childhood leukemia among other so called “collateral damage”.
So please take the tone of this article with as Robert Anton Wilson used to say “a small Siberian salt mine”, but the info contained with the sense of hope and celebration it seems to imply;-)
I hope this beautiful achievement is a sign of things to come, as we shift globally from the duality of win-lose to the unity of win-win in every situation that has previously appeared intractable.