Dear Friends:
Tomorrow, we will mark 1,000 days of captivity for Gilad Shalit. On this somber occasion, we ask that you keep him in your thoughts and prayers throughout the day. In that spirit, we would like to share with you once again the video of Gilad Shalit’s vision for peace, When the Shark and the Fish First Met, which can be seen above and on YouTube.
The Palestinian people, especially those in Gaza, have suffered for some time from abuse and being played as proxies in a war against Israel. For many years, they were the proxies of the Arab world, which refused to welcome them and forced them to live in refugee camps. Now, it is Hamas that manipluates the people of Gaza, putting them in harm’s way while its “fighters” take on Israel.
An article in today’s Wall Street Journal Europe suggests the path to peace lies in recognizing and redressing this injustice. An excerpt:
The media tend to attribute Gaza’s decline solely to Israeli military and economic actions against Hamas. But such a myopic analysis ignores the problem’s root cause: 60 years of Arab policy aimed at cementing the Palestinian people’s status as stateless refugees in order to use their suffering as a weapon against Israel.[...]
Arabs claim they love the Palestinian people, but they seem more interested in sacrificing them. If they really loved their Palestinian brethren, they’d pressure Hamas to stop firing missiles at Israel. In the longer term, the Arab world must end the Palestinians’ refugee status and thereby their desire to harm Israel. It’s time for the 22 Arab countries to open their borders and absorb the Palestinians of Gaza who wish to start a new life. It is time for the Arab world to truly help the Palestinians, not use them.
Ibrahim Mousawi, a spokesman for Hizbullah and an editor of its al- Manar newspaper, has reportedly been denied entry into the UK–the latest in the story of an invitation to an advocate of terrorism.
Mousawi had initially been invited to speak at the School of Oriental and African Studies later this month on “Political Islam,” but the invitation caused quite the uproar. Mousawi has been a senior figure at Al-Manar, which peddles antisemitic and anti-Israel sentiment and has therefore been banned in the United States.
According to the Jewish Chronicle and the Harry’s Place blog, the government was even set to welcome Mousawi, despite his job description of “whipping up hatred against Jews.” Many people apparently thought the man did not quite raise enough tension with the country’s Jewish community to raise hackles.
It seems, for now at least, that more rational heads have prevailed. Of course there is still the need to be vigilant and call incitement, hatred, and racism by their proper names–and refuse to promulgate such ideologies under any excuse.
Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni met today with US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in Jerusalem for an in-depth discussion of the current situation. They also held a joint press conference, the transcript of which follows below. You can also watch the video coverage of the press conference. continue reading…
Here’s a thoughtful piece by Meron Benvenisti in Haaretz. In his work, he suggests that the situation in the West Bank is worth contemplating, even if it doesn’t make the newspapers all the time.
The accepted dictum is that the situation in the occupied territories interests Israelis only when something violent takes place there and when the events fit with the standard narrative about the settlers, the roadblocks and the injustices of the occupation. The truth of this maxim is proven again in that change for the better in the security situation and the economy and the general atmosphere in the West Bank merits very little interest and negligible reporting.
So what’s the best way forward? Benvenisti doesn’t fully answer that question. But he does say there is potential for progress; we just need to keep our eyes open.
Iran’s nuclear program has been the subject of public discourse for some time, but the results of international pressure have been slow in coming. Last week’s Washington Times features an op-ed piece discussing the urgent need for results on the diplomatic front against Iran. The issue, he notes, should not concern only Israel and other Middle East countries:
A military nuclear capability underwriting Iran’s support of terror in the region will threaten moderate Arab countries and enable Iran to project its power in a more dangerous way as well as expand its footprint in the region.
Remember, of course, that Iran acts through a number of proxies (see Hamas and Hizbullah, for some examples) who would also benefit from Iran’s increased strength. Suffice it to say, a stronger Iran will not bring peace to the region.
President Shimon Peres eloquently set forth the outlines of Israel’s hopes for the Middle East in today’s Washington Post. We bring you here a short excerpt to pique your interest:
The difficulties of a two-state solution are numerous, but it remains the only realistic and moral formula to end the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Those not committed to this solution argue that, after the creation of a Palestinian state, Israel’s waist would be too narrow — some six miles — to ensure security for its citizens.
Indeed, six miles will be too narrow to guarantee full security, which only reinforces our belief that Israel’s safety is not embedded only in territorial defense but in peace. Peace provides breadth of wings, even when the waist is narrow.
You can find the rest of the article through the Washington Post website.
Israel Television’s (Channel 33) IBA News will have a special live English newscast on election eve, February 10th. The 30-minute broadcast will begin at 11 PM Israel Time (GMT +2), just one hour after the release of exit polls, and will be available for viewing online at the IBA website.
The election night broadcast will feature veteran reporters, coverage from the headquarters of the major parties, and analysis of the poll results.
Iran announced today that it had launched its own satellite into orbit, making it one of the few countries in the world capable of doing so. As the New York Times reports, the world is looking on with a bit of worry. The biggest question is what else Iran is planning to launch–especially if its nuclear-weapons program begins to bear more results. We also wonder what signals Iran is sending, even as other countries call for cooperation with the Islamic Republic.
Several weeks ago, 40 Palestinians were tragically killed in Jabalya by Israeli fire. News reports at the time indicated they had been targeted inside a UN-run school. Now, that case isn’t so clear.
This, from the Globe and Mail:
JABALYA, GAZA STRIP — Most people remember the headlines: Massacre Of Innocents As UN School Is Shelled; Israeli Strike Kills Dozens At UN School.
They heralded the tragic news of Jan. 6, when mortar shells fired by advancing Israeli forces killed 43 civilians in the Jabalya refugee camp in the Gaza Strip. The victims, it was reported, had taken refuge inside the Ibn Rushd Preparatory School for Boys, a facility run by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency.
The news shocked the world and was compared to the 1996 Israeli attack on a UN compound in Qana, Lebanon, in which more than 100 people seeking refuge were killed. It was certain to hasten the end of Israel’s attack on Gaza, and would undoubtedly lead the list of allegations of war crimes committed by Israel.
There was just one problem: The story, as etched in people’s minds, was not quite accurate.
See the Globe and Mail for more.
The deaths of these civilians, like all Palestinian and Israeli civilian deaths, is a tragic fact. We learn that we ought not rush to conclusions in these matters, and that perhaps a full investigation might uncover a fuller version of events.
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