Among the inspiring rallies yesterday in front of the United Nations was this one by the organization Stop Child Executions calling for Iran to respect the human rights of its citizens. Here is a video of Nazanin Afshin-Jam, the head of the organization, speaking at the protest, with people from many different religions and political views in attendance.

Comments (1) Sep 24 2008

In this unprecedented internet address, Malcolm Hoenlein, Executive Vice Chairman of the Conference of Presidents of Major Jewish Organizations, addresses the Iranian people directly. The video, in English with Arabic and Farsi subtitles, expresses goodwill and friendship towards the Iranian people while emphasizign the serious problems with the government in Tehran.
For more information, see Jerusalem Online.

Comments (0) Jun 25 2008

After a protracted period of negotiations between Egypt and representatives of Israel and Hamas, it was announced that a period of calm would be instituted between Israel and the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip beginning at 6:00 A.M. on Thursday, 19 June.  Following are some of the major points comprising this agreement:

• The institution of “calm” applies only to the Gaza Strip and not to West Bank areas.  Thus, while Israel’s security forces will refrain from operations in the Gaza Strip, they will continue to undertake necessary operations in the West Bank.
• Palestinian terrorist organizations must:
  • Halt all fire and terrorist activity
  • End their buildup of arms
  • Cease smuggling from Egypt
• While the above points are effective immediately with the beginning of the “calm,” opening the crossings to Gaza will be implemented gradually after successive periods of calm.
  • After 3 days, Israel will open the Karni and Sufa crossings for basic commodities
  • One week later, Israel will allow for a larger number of commodities to enter the Gaza Strip, excepting those used for weapons manufacturing
  • After an additional week, talks will be held about opening the Rafah crossing to Egypt
• The freedom of Gilad Shalit, kidnapped two years ago, is an integral part of the “state of calm.”  According to Foreign Minister Livni, releasing Shalit is a necessary step if Hamas wants to achieve further gains.
• Furthermore, Israel will continue to monitor the situation closely to ensure that all parties adhere to their obligations.  Hamas will bear responsibility for any terrorist act by any organization and should be prepared to accept the consequences of such actions.

While the State of Israel has every desire to see this “lull” develop into a period of sustained calm, she places primary significance on the safety and security of her citizens.  Should the “calm” collapse, Israel will take alternate measures to address the new situation. 

For more informaiton, see the Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center.

Comments (0) Jun 25 2008

It was made known today that Israel and Syria have begun peace negotiations under Turkish auspices.  Below are comments from Prime Minister Olmert on these developments:

“Good evening.

“I came here this evening to present you with my ideas and those of the Government, in the field which is perhaps closest to my heart – education. However, before that I would like to dedicate a few words to the political developments of the past several weeks which, like the topic of education, shape the ability to ensure our future and security here in the State of Israel.

“Today, as you know, an announcement was published simultaneously in Jerusalem, Damascus and Ankara regarding the initiation of peace negotiations between Israel and Syria, under the sponsorship of Turkey. The announcement this morning constitutes the end of a phase in a process which has lasted over a year, during which we sought to establish a track which would allow for the existence of peace talks with Syria. To my pleasure, the Prime Minister of Turkey, Recep Tayyip Erdogan met the challenge of mediating between the parties, and after long months of talks and contacts, the announcement was made this morning about preliminary talks.

“The renewal of negotiations with Syria, after eight years of stagnation, is certainly an exciting topic, but beyond this it is a national obligation which must be exhausted. Three prime ministers before me also reached this same conclusion: the late Yitzhak Rabin, Benjamin Netanyahu and Ehud Barak, who, each in their own turn, invested efforts in this channel and were even prepared to make painful and far-reaching concessions to achieve peace with Syria. The years which have passed since the negotiations were frozen did not improve the security situation on our northern border, which still serves as our primary source of concern for regional deterioration. In such a situation, it is always better to talk than to shoot, and I am pleased that both sides decided to do so.

“I have no illusions: negotiations will not be easy, it will not be simple and it is possible that it will take a long time and may eventually involve difficult concessions. At the same time, after weighing all the relevant data and hearing the opinions of all Israel’s security and intelligence bodies, I reached the conclusion that the chances in this case outweighed the risks, and with this hope, today we embark on this path.”

Comments (0) May 21 2008

Check out this YouTube video showing some of Livni’s speech in Boston to the Massachusetts House of Representatives. She addresses many of the most important issues, like Israel’s commitment to peace and to combating terrorism.

Comments (0) Apr 09 2008

From today’s Washington Times, a frightening article about the state of education in the Arab Middle East.  Far from promoting peace, many classes and textbooks promote hatred of the United States and Israel and encourage kids to take violent action on behlaf of terrorist entities.  Take, for example, this clip from Hamas’s al-Aqsa TV that shows a young boy killing President Bush and turning the White House into a mosque (thanks to MEMRI for the translation).

Today’s students will be the leaders of tomorrow; the fact that they’re learning to view Israel and the United States with a measure of loathing and hatred makes us wonder what the region will look like in the future.  We can only hope that the state of education changes soon.

Comments (0) Apr 07 2008

President Bush spent a busy three days in Israel last week. He visited with Olmert and Abbas, toured some important sites, and gave a number of key speeches. Here’s one where he discusses new proposals for advancing the peace process.

Watch the video of Bush’s speech here.

THE PRESIDENT: Good afternoon. I’d like to, first, thank Prime Minister Olmert and President Abbas for their hospitality during my trip here to the Holy Land. We had very good meetings, and now is the time to make difficult choices.

I underscored to both Prime Minister Olmert and President Abbas that progress needs to be made on four parallel tracks. First, both sides need to fulfill their commitments under the road map. Second, the Palestinians need to build their economy and their political and security institutions. And to do that, they need the help of Israel, the region, and the international community. Third, I reiterate my appreciation for the Arab League peace initiative, and I call upon the Arab countries to reach out to Israel, a step that is long overdue.

In addition to these three tracks, both sides are getting down to the business of negotiating. I called upon both leaders to make sure their teams negotiate seriously, starting right now. I strongly supported the decision of the two leaders to continue their regular summit meetings, because they are the ones who can, and must, and — I am convinced — will lead.

I share with these two leaders the vision of two democratic states, Israel and Palestine, living side by side in peace and security. Both of these leaders believe that the outcome is in the interest of their peoples and are determined to arrive at a negotiated solution to achieve it.

The point of departure for permanent status negotiations to realize this vision seems clear: There should be an end to the occupation that began in 1967. The agreement must establish Palestine as a homeland for the Palestinian people, just as Israel is a homeland for the Jewish people. These negotiations must ensure that Israel has secure, recognized, and defensible borders. And they must ensure that the state of Palestine is viable, contiguous, sovereign, and independent.

It is vital that each side understands that satisfying the other’s fundamental objectives is key to a successful agreement. Security for Israel and viability for the Palestinian state are in the mutual interests of both parties.

Continue reading the transcript…

Comments (2) Jan 18 2008

With the world once again focused on the process of Arab- Israeli reconciliation and hopefully, one day, peace, we’d like to take a moment to recommend a recently published contextual piece in HAARETZ (see below). Written by David Govrin, director of the Islam department at the diplomatic planning division of Israel’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the article offers a birds eye view of the current round of talks, declarations, and rapprochements within the framework of the entire region in the hopes of giving the expert and novice alike a comprehensive perspective in which to follow along. Perhaps all the ducks are beginning to line-up in what could be an opportunistic row and we may be on the verge of a new Arab-Israeli relationship. Let us hope that this is indeed the case.

From Haaretz:

Between Tehran and Jerusalem

By David Govrin

The visit to Israel last week by the foreign ministers of Egypt and Jordan, coming as official representatives of the Arab League, was a historic event. The visit, which was the first time that such a delegation had met with members of the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, was aimed at advancing the Arab peace initiative and creating momentum that would enable the sides to move toward implementation of the vision of two states, Israeli and Palestinian, living side by side in peace.

What began as the Saudi initiative, when it was first published in 2001 and adopted by all of the members of the Arab League, is the first peace proposal in the history of the Israeli-Arab conflict to have been proposed by the Arab League countries. Until recently, it did not seem to be on its way to implementation, in part because Israel did not see in it a proper a basis for negotiations. Now though, it may be on track, after the Arab collective created for the first time, at the Riyadh summit in March, a mechanism for dialogue with Israel in the context of the initiative. The two foreign ministers visited Israel against the background of a new geo-strategic reality, which is characterized by increasing Iranian involvement in the region.

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Comments (1) Aug 09 2007

As published in The Guardian. From our Prime Minister:

1967: Israel cannot make peace alone
We must pursue a comprehensive solution with energy and vision, writes Israeli prime minister Ehud Olmert

Wednesday June 6, 2007
The Guardian

Six days, 40 years ago. Looking back to the weeks preceding the war, it may be difficult for you to imagine just how desperate life seemed for Israelis, ringed by peoples whose armies pointed their weapons towards us, whose leaders daily promised the imminent destruction of our state and whose newspapers carried crude cartoons of Jews being kicked off the face of the earth. As we consecrated mass graves in expectation of the worst, we were once again people facing annihilation. We had no alternative but to defend ourselves, no strategic allies to ensure our survival. We stood alone.

Our victory in those six days in June 1967 - swift, complete and totally unexpected - showed us and the world we were not going to be wiped off the map that easily. Israel fought an unwanted war to defend her very existence, and today there are still leaders who call for Israel to be wiped off the map. But there is a danger that that will be forgotten, overtaken by a re-reading of history. Our survival in 1967 is now, in the eyes of the world and, with worrying consequences in the UK, the original sin of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Our opponents argue against the ongoing “occupation” as if it were the Gordian knot of the conflict. If only we were to leave the territories the conflict would end. And they threaten international isolation if we do not.

If only the conflict were so simple; if only the answer were so simple. Over the last 15 years, successive Israeli governments have initiated talks with the Palestinians in every conceivable permutation in an attempt to reach a settlement. In the 1990s, Israel withdrew from all the Palestinian cities in the West Bank, handing its affairs over to a Palestinian Authority. Nearly two years ago, Israel withdrew its troops and civilians from Gaza, with no preconditions. Last year my Kadima party came to power on an agenda promising further withdrawals. In the face of concessions that have threatened our own domestic consensus, the constant refrain has been the Palestinian refusal to end its violent attacks on our citizens.

Palestinian violence is not a response to the capture of the West Bank and Gaza. Palestinian nationalism’s roots are not so shallow. From the emergence of the Zionist movement over 100 years ago, Arabs have opposed our claim to independence on our historic homeland, often violently. Our conflict is not territorial, it is national.

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Comments (2) Jun 06 2007

Ynet News put together a very interesting special report today on the 40th anniversary.

Here it is.

Comments (0) Jun 05 2007