For this [domestic Israeli] pro-peace majority to become politically empowered, Israel’s citizens must be able to trust that the Palestinians with whom they negotiate are able to enforce the agreements they reach. This is, literally, the only path to genuine Palestinian self-determination. No American president, much less Congress, will ever attempt to force Israel into a peace agreement against its will. Neither would the Europeans, who are actually irrelevant since they lack both the power and the means to do so. Terrorism aside, Palestinians have no credible military option vis-à-vis Israel. Their only hope can come by convincing Jewish Israelis that the risks and benefits of peace outweigh the risks and benefits of continued conflict.

...Barghouti’s conditions demand that Israelis voluntarily forfeit their commitment to their history, their national identity and their understanding of Jewish history.

Were Barghouti to ask American Jews to join him in pressuring Israel to come to its senses and negotiate a secure settlement based on the 1967 lines, with necessary adjustments on both sides and some sort symbolic (and perhaps financial) redress for Palestinians without the “right of return,” he might stand a chance of attracting significant support even among American Jews and within the Israeli peace camp. As his plan now stands, it is of a piece with the programs of Hamas and Hezbollah and with Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s recent call for “the destruction of the Zionist regime” by peaceful means.

What I find most remarkable about Alterman's argument is how inherently conservative it is in the claim that the BDS strategy defies Israelis' "history, their national identity and their understanding of Jewish history." A liberal would not accept such rationalizations in any other situation in which we encountered such a gross imbalance of power. Imagine ceding to the white southerners of the 1960s "their understanding of southern history" as a reason to tolerate Jim Crow. Alterman is referring to fears of another Holocaust, but this dialogue is billed as a conversation among progressives; and I should think it is the progressive's duty to reimagine social relations and overcome traditional understandings. Also, notice how Alterman seems to honor the constellation of existing powers, American empire and the Israel lobby, which have served to preserve the occupation.

The piece is also surprising for Alterman's argument that the "democracy deficit" between Israel and its Arab neighbors, including Egypt, somehow justifies the status quo. I keep waiting for a sincere statement from Alterman about why he feels a need for a Jewish national homeland when we are doing so well here. That is the heart of his own understanding of Jewish history. 

In the same forum, Lizzy Ratner argues for BDS and offers a far more fluid understanding of Jewish history. She cites a Jewish tradition of supporting boycott when there is injustice, and disputes the claim by Bernard Avishai, who preceded Alterman, that boycott will only put Israelis on the defensive and curb the progressive force of international capital. Again there is the issue, of a progressive adopting a conservative program:

Avishai makes the perplexing claim that in cutting off the salutary spigot of corporate capital, BDS risks alienating the very Jewish Israelis who are most primed to be sympathetic to Palestinians’ plight—namely, its “most educated and cosmopolitan people.” This is an odd formulation for several reasons, the most notable being the most obvious: Since when was morality the privilege of elites? And at what point did corporations become the avant-garde of enlightened behavior?

But there is another problem, which is that the available evidence doesn’t seem to support the theory. During the years that capital has poured into Tel Aviv, nightlife may have boomed but anti-occupation protest has not. More to the point, one of the prime, historic examples of boycott and divestment—the international campaign to end apartheid in South Africa, which inspired BDS—was enormously effective, as both Nelson Mandela and Desmond Tutu have argued. (And they should know, to quote Omar Barghouti.)

Read Ratner's piece for the emphatic description of the facts on the ground today. That is the real argument for BDS, intolerable conditions. If not now, when?

Ethnic Cleansing / Land Theft & Destruction / Occupation & Apartheid / Exile & Restriction of Movement / Refugees

Report: Israel issued 13,000 demolition orders against Palestinian real estate
Haaretz newspaper said the Israeli civil administration issued 13,000 demolition warnings against Palestinians accused of unlicensed construction in Area C of the West Bank.
link to www.palestine-info.co.uk

Israeli military order expels Palestinian family from its land
The Israeli occupation forces expelled on Friday a Palestinian family from an area south of Al-Khalil, claiming that it is a closed military zone in which Palestinians are not allowed to live.
link to www.palestine-info.co.uk

Slater is outspoken on the role of the Israel lobby in forcing Obama to cave, and he is wicked, writing as a Christmas tree Jew, about Beinart's communitarian call for reenergizing religious segregationist impulses in Jewish life to fight assimilation. Hasn't Beinart noticed, Slater asks, that he is empowering the most intolerant political segment of the Jewish community when it comes to his chief cause, saving the two-state solution? 

The piece concludes with this plainspoken statement of Jewish identity and call for sanctions. Slater remains a liberal Zionist but one with fewer and fewer illusions:

As an anti-religious Jew, my own self-identification with our community has been principally a function of a defiance of an anti-Semitism that has now essentially disappeared but was hardly uncommon in my youth, combined with pride in the Jewish tradition of rationalism and morality--at least as that has been previously understood, and not only by Jews. The enlightenment tradition has been betrayed by Israel, and it gets worse practically day-by-day. Consequently, there is no good reason to revere or love Israel; such feelings should be reserved for the unflinchingly honest and brave Israeli dissidents.

The Israeli left can be helped only by truly serious outside pressures, including making U.S. and other Western economic, military, and political support of Israel conditional upon an end to the Israeli occupation and repression of the Palestinians. That is the sine qua non for a genuine legitimization of Israel, whether as a full democracy with equal rights for all its citizens, or as a Jewish state which privileges its majority in certain limited ways but which can be legitimately characterized as a democracy in most essentials.

The likelihood of such sanctions being imposed on Israel by the American Jewish community, the U.S. government, and the West, is close to nonexistent. Yet, somehow, even if we believe the struggle is hopeless, we must act as if it isn’t.

While we recognize the complexity involved in properly addressing this issue, and sympathize with Israeli citizens whose personal security has been compromised by the lawlessness and violence of some migrants, we are disturbed by inflammatory public statements made by certain Israeli officials, some of which has veered into racism. These statements are counterproductive and only serve to further inflame tensions.

But in "Police distort crime date, inciting violence against refugees," Sigal Rozen at +972 quotes police statistics showing a low crime rate among the migrants:

Real police data, presented in a meeting held by the Knesset Committee on Foreign Workers on March 19, indicate that the crime rate among foreigners in Israel stood at 2.24 percent in 2011 (1,223 criminal cases out of a total of 54,497 foreigners).

The 2011 data on Israeli crime has not yet been published, but according to police data reported to the Knesset, the crime rate among the general population in Israel stood at 4.99 percent in 2010....

the general crime rate in Israel is more than double that of Africans in Israel.

Scant mention by Jeffrey Goldberg of the attacks; he diminishes the episode and leaves out the official encouragement of the riots:

Then came the disturbing news that in a poor neighborhood of Tel Aviv, Sudanese immigrants were set upon by Israeli hooligans. 'Fascism' might be a strong word, and of course Israel is judged by a double-standard (triple-standard, actually), but this is not what should be happening in a country that calls itself a Jewish state.

Great post by liberal Zionist Peter Beinart concludes with some implicit sympathy for the delegitimizers of Israel. Excerpt:

Oh and this just in (thanks Susie Kneedler), from Jeremy Ben-Ami of J Street. I'm removing his disclaimers to emphasize the positive aspects of his statement:

So, seeing pictures and reading first-hand reports of Wednesday night’s riot in which Jews targeted African refugees in Tel Aviv left me shocked and saddened. ... what happened Wednesday is simply inexcusable.... What’s most distressing about Wednesday’s events is the role played by Members of Israel's Knesset in inciting the crowd to violence. One is a disciple of Meir Kahane. Others are identified with extreme-right views on issues related to Palestinians and Arabs. It's no surprise to see those who peddle hate against one group inciting a crowd to violence against another. This incident is part of a pattern of broader and disturbing actions by these MKs that put Israel’s democracy and the rule of law at risk. ....

the test for [all] nations is how they deal with their most extreme fringe. And there is a growing fringe in Israel whose values are out of sync with those of the Jewish community broadly and whose actions are undermining their country's interests.

Stanley Tate, a well-known philanthropist and prominent Republican who started Florida's pre-paid college tuition program, resigned from the temple after he learned Wasserman Schultz would be talking about Israel following services on Friday night, and that he wouldn't get an opportunity for rebuttal.

The temple's president, Ben Kuehne, a Miami attorney, said the event was canceled because of security concerns.

Tate's resignation came after he asked the temple's leadership to let him speak in response to Wasserman Schultz. When they wouldn't do so, Tate said he would leave the congregation. Tate, 85, is co-chair of Mitt Romney's campaign in Miami-Dade County. He also has a national role in the GOP presidential candidate's campaign.

"She's the chairperson of the Democratic National Committee," he said. "The topic is the U.S.-Israel relationship. There cannot be any conversation on that topic, none, unless it has to do with the politics."

The dispute comes in an election year when Republicans are trying to win over traditionally Democratic-leaning Jewish voters from Obama. Some Jewish voters are concerned about the president's stance against Israel's building of settlements in the predominantly Palestinian West Bank.

Read more here: http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2012/05/24/150082/gop-donors-protest-results-in.html#storylink=cpy

Senate fight today over Palestinian ‘refugees’
Thirty U.S. senators will vote today over whether there really are 5 million Palestinian "refugees" or just around 30,000 -- a hot-button issue that has already become the subject of a vigorous international debate involving Israel and its Arab neighbors. When the Senate Appropriations Committee takes up the fiscal 2013 State Department and foreign operations appropriations bill today, senators will vote on an amendment crafted by Sen. Mark Kirk (R-IL) that would require the State Department to report on how many of the millions of people currently supported by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees (UNRWA) are actually people who were physically displaced from their homes in Israel or the occupied territories, and how many are descendants of original refugees.
link to thecable.foreignpolicy.com

UK: Israel’s Settlements Harm its International Standing
The WAFA News Agency reported today a UK Foreign Office statement issued on Wednesday. British Foreign Secretary William Hague told his visiting Israeli counterpart Avigdor Lieberman that Israel’s settlement expansion in Jerusalem and the West Bank harms its international standing.
link to www.imemc.org

Senate fight today over Palestinian ‘refugees’
Thirty U.S. senators will vote today over whether there really are 5 million Palestinian "refugees" or just around 30,000 -- a hot-button issue that has already become the subject of a vigorous international debate involving Israel and its Arab neighbors. When the Senate Appropriations Committee takes up the fiscal 2013 State Department and foreign operations appropriations bill today, senators will vote on an amendment crafted by Sen. Mark Kirk (R-IL) that would require the State Department to report on how many of the millions of people currently supported by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees (UNRWA) are actually people who were physically displaced from their homes in Israel or the occupied territories, and how many are descendants of original refugees.
link to thecable.foreignpolicy.com

Health ministery: Gaza hospitals still threatened by the power and fuel crisis
The health ministry warned that the medical work in Gaza hospitals is still endangered by the power crisis and there is no sufficient fuel even to operate their generators in the coming days.
link to www.palestine-info.co.uk

When the movie "The Social Network" came out, Zuckerberg reportedly took great offense with the way in which screenwriter Aaron Sorkin implied that he created Facebook in order to meet girls, specifically non-Jewish girls...

I tend to believe that Zuckerberg - who met Chan at [a Harvard fraternity party like one in the film] didn’t, in fact, intentionally set out in search of a non-Jewish girlfriend or wife. Religion and ethnic identity was and is simply irrelevant to him, and, like it or not, to most of his generation of American Jews. Sorkin - a generation ahead of him - was imposing a narrative on Zuckerberg and his friends that didn’t fit.

In the new online social order Zuckerberg has helped create, we are all friends and we are all networked.

Sommer's observation that Sorkin was anachronistic is well taken. I went to Harvard in the '70s; and the social stratification described in The Social Network could have been mine; but the Social Network is set in 2003-2004. A friend who went to Harvard in the '90s tells me that the era of Jewish outsiderdom at the school was well over even at that point.

Why is this important? Because there is a tendency in American Jewish life to hold on to the injustices of the past and fail to see the new reality. When we "impose a narrative," it tends to be a narrative of victimization. Mark Zuckerberg is one of the wealthiest men on earth, and his company, god bless it, played a significant role in the liberation of Egypt. He's a powerful guy, and I don't think he's as culturally bound as Aaron Sorkin. So get to work on Palestine, Mark.

A couple times I've said that Philip Roth talks about the Israel lobby in his 1986 novel, The Counterlife. Well it was a rainy night and the fire was going, and I did my homework. 

The Israeli character Shuki Elchanan is a former press attache to David Ben-Gurion. He talks to the book's American narrator, Nathan Zuckerman: 

This is the homeland of Jewish abnormality. Worse: now we are the dependent Jews, on your money, your lobby, on our big allowance from Uncle Sam, while you are the Jews living interesting lives, comfortable lives, without apology, without shame, and perfectly independent.

And here's from a letter that Elchanan writes to Zuckerman, set in 1978:

Virtually everything we have right now we have to get from abroad. I'm thinking of those things that, if we didn't have them, the Arab countries wouldn't tolerate us for a minute (and I include plutonium). What keeps them at bay doesn't come from our resources but from someone else's pocket; as I complained to you the other day, mostly it comes from what [President Jimmy] Carter appropriates and what his Congress wants to go along with. What we have comes out of the pocket of the fellow from Kansas--part of each of his tax dollars goes to arm Jews. And why should he pay for the Jews? The other side is always trying to undermine us, to erode this support, and their argument is getting better all the time; just a little more help from [P.M. Menachem] Begin in the way of stupid policy, and they can indeed foster a situation in which the reluctance to keep shelling out is going to grow until finally nobody in the U.S. feels obligated to fork over three billion a year to keep a lot of Yids in guns. In order to keep doling out the dollars, that American has to believe that the Israeli is more or less the same as himself, the same decent sort of guy after the same sort of decent things. And that is not Mordecai Lippman [settler]. If Lippman and his followers are not the Jews they want to pay money for, I won't blame them. ... who from Kansas needs to support that kind of stuff with his hard-earned dough?

It turned out the lobby was only too happy to preserve the settlement project, and the guy from Kansas too. 

A month ago, I was invited by American Jews for a Just Peace to give a talk in Boston in memory of Hilda Silverman z’l, a friend, congregant and passionate advocate for justice for Palestinians. In honor of Hilda, I wrote a talk that described my journey from liberal Zionist to a belief in a Judaism and Jewish Identity without Zionism. The talk is long but it describes the journey as well as paying tribute to one very courageous and visionary friend. I welcome comments and responses.

Part 1: Hilda z’l

Thank you so much for inviting me to give this lecture in memory of Hilda Silverman z’l, a dear friend, congregant, teacher and comrade. Hilda, as many of you know, was a very passionate, articulate and relentless advocate for justice, particularly for Palestinians. Passion for justice was core of her Jewish identity. The Torah commands: Justice, Justice, shall you pursue! Hilda’s tireless pursuit of justice is reflected in the Torah’s repetition: Justice, (Yes!) Justice shall you pursue!

For Hilda, as for most liberal Jews, this commitment to justice was based not only on Jewish text but also in Jewish history, in the experience of Jews as victims of injustice. We must never do to others what was done to us. In the words of the Torah: “You shall not oppress the stranger for you know the soul of the stranger because you were strangers in the land of Egypt.” For Hilda, solidarity with the oppressed, with those who are treated unjustly, was what it meant to be a Jew.

Hilda Silverman

Hilda saw the discrimination and oppression of Palestinians was the most urgent and pressing moral Jewish issue. Every day she challenged the high wall, a “Separation Barrier”, a “Mechitza” that many progressive and liberal American Jews involved in many different justice issues build around the issue of Palestinian human rights. American Jews have a proud legacy of challenging discrimination in America in housing, education, voting rights and every form of human and civil rights, yet are often silent about the systematic denial of precisely these same rights to Palestinians by Israel. (I wonder how many synagogue and family seders were held 10 days ago where rights for women, gays and lesbians, immigrants, the poor and many others were mentioned but not a word about the violation of Palestinian human rights.)

For Hilda the issue of Palestine was the issue on which the integrity of the Jewish ethical tradition and the Jewish legacy rested. And, it wasn’t just the silence that was so disturbing, but the silence is acccompanied by the massive and effective support of the American Jewish community for Israel and the profound influence of the American Jewish community in ensuring massive American military, political and diplomatic support for Israel that enables the oppression of the Palestinian people. As Hilda met Palestinians and encountered Palestinian suffering, the role of her community, so committed on issues of justice in America, while at the same time enablers of the oppression of Palestinians, pained her so deeply and inspired her to act fearlessly. She angered many with her relentless insistence that this issue must be confronted and for this we are all so indebted to her.

Hilda and I met in Philadelphia in the 1980′s, I think in the Philadelphia chapter of New Jewish Agenda. Then I was a rabbinical student and Middle East Peace activist training to become a social justice rabbi anchored in the prophetic tradition of Judaism.

Hilda read everything she could put her hands on about the Palestinians. She would send me long handwriten notes suggesting I read photocopied articles that she enclosed on the history of the conflict and on the disturbing realities of the Occupation. She invited Palestinian speakers and arranged educational events. She opened my eyes to realities that I wanted to deny. She was always ahead of me, understanding realities that it took me years to acknowledge. She understood how important and painful it was for us to step beyond the comfort of denial.

In my first congregation, she helped me put together a unique adult education series on Israel: Hearing Both Sides that included speakers such as Rashid Khalidi, Afif Sefieh, Meron Bevenisti and several prominent Israelis. At the time there was an Israeli ban on speaking to anyone associated with the P.L.O and yet Afif Sefieh who devoted his life to representing the P.L.O. was welcomed into our little synagogue.

In 1987, my Yom Kippur sermon, A Generation of Occupation, discussing the corrosive moral effects of twenty years of Occupation on Jews and Judaism. cost me my first position as a congregational rabbi. When we founded Mishkan Shalom, an explicitly activist congregation with a commitment to support to justice and peace in Israel/Palestine, Hilda joined the congregation. I think it was the first time she became a member of a congregation. I will always remember the first Hannukah service in our congregation that Hilda planned honoring Human Rights Day and the first anniversary of the intifadeh.

Hilda moved to Boston but we kept in touch and later when I helped found Rabbis for Human Rights North America we reconnected. Hilda always was a devoted and passionate supporter of Rabbis for Human Rights, particularly the work of Rabbi Arik Ascherman with whom she had a close relationship. She always helped bring him to different communities.

Hilda was my teacher and friend and a very important part of my own spiritual/ethical journey that I want to share tonight. As I said, she was always ahead of me. My talk, “Affirming a Judaism and Jewish Identity without Zionism: A Personal Spiritual/Ethical Journey” is a way of honoring and thanking her. It is also a way of sharing publicly in a comprehensive way an important transformation that I have undergone in my understanding of the conflict and of my activism in the past two to three years.

My talk will be divided into three parts:

1. Zionism

2. Judaism

3. Privilege, Power and Solidarity

1. Zionism

I grew up in a fiercely and passionately Zionist family and community in South Africa and have been a progressive, liberal Zionist for most of my life. The schools I attended as a child were Weizmann and Herzlia, named after the two Zionist leaders. I was part of Habonim, a Zionist youth movement, and spent three months in Israel in 1967 following the 67 War. I love Hebrew language and culture. In 1969 one of the highlights of my life was meeting David Ben Gurion, the founding father of Israel, and representing South Africa in the International Bible Quiz in Jerusalem on Israel Independence Day. I made aliya after high school, and studied in the regular program with Israelis at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. While I returned to South Africa in 1972, liberal Zionism and a deep connection to Israel remained a core part my Judaism and Jewish identity. (My great grandfather, Avraham Zeev, after whom I am named, is buried on Mount of Olives. According to family legend he made aliya to Israel in 1926, a few days after his daughter asked if she could go to a store with a non Jewish friend on Shabbat!)

Liberal Zionism

Liberal Zionism meant that I believed in the creation of a Jewish state that would provide a desparately needed safe haven for Jews around the world, a state that would be a cultural center for the Jewish People, and a state that would reflect the highest ideals of the Jewish tradition. After centuries of victimization, the creation of a Jewish state would afford Jews an opportunity to test our values: not do unto others as was done to us. The Jewish State would treat all with dignity, equality and respect. In the words of Israel’s Declaration of Independence, the state will be “based on freedom, justice and peace as envisaged by the prophets of Israel; it will ensure complete equality of social and political rights to all its inhabitants irrespective of religion, race or sex.”

This was the Zionist vision that I learned as a child, that was the ethos of Habonim, my Zionist youth movement, that inspired me to make aliya, and that inspired my involvement over the past three decades in Breira, New Jewish Agenda, Tikkun , Rabbis for Human Rights, Americans for Peace Now, the Shalom Center, and many related organizations. Athough these organizations are to the left of the mainstream American Jewish community they all share a progressive/liberal Zionist vision, deeply attached to the Jewish state, while viewing the oppression of Palestinians, the Occupation and the settlement policy as deviations from the true intent of Zionism and a violation of the core values of Judaism.

Public Letter to Netanyahu

One of the very first public acts of Rabbis for Human Rights – North America was a public letter in 2004 to Prime Minister Netanyahu from over 400 rabbis protesting the arrest of Rabbi Arik Ascherman for blocking a bulldozer demolishing a Palestinian home. The letter articulated our Zionism.

We wrote: “We are concerned about the decision to prosecute our colleague who has devoted his life to Israel and to the Zionist vision of building and sustaining a Jewish State that exemplifies the values of compassion and justice. Rabbi Ascherman has dedicated his career to protecting the human rights of both Israelis and Palestinians and his Zionist and Jewish commitments inspire thousands of Jews in Israel and abroad. …….. For us and for many Jews in our communities the work of Rabbi for Human Rights represents the Jewish moral conscience. We express our love and commitment for Israel by supporting that work. To silence it is to push us away from the Israel we love.”

For many years I expressed my love and commitment to Israel by supporting the work of Rabbis for Human Rights and other Israeli Human Rights and peace organizations as they embodied the Israel that I believed in and loved.

Over time, engagement with these organizations also led to a transformation in my own relationship to Zionism and my understanding of the relationship between Zionism and Judaism. This transformation came to a head in 2008.

Home Demolition:

As part of my involvement with these organizations, particularly Rabbis for Human Rights in the 1990′s and first decade of this century, I got to see some very disturbing realities most Jews and Israelis choose not to see.

As Rabbis for Human Rights worked very closely with the Israel Commmittee against Home Demolition, in the 1990′s I witnessed or visited several demolished Palestinian homes. The memory and visual images of these experiences live within me, in my body and soul.

I remember standing on the site of a recently demolished Palestinian home seeing the childrens toys lying in the rubble and a small one person tent next to the demolished home where the father of the family now lived. The experience shook me to my core. What does it mean for me to believe in a Jewish state that demolishes Palestinian homes using bulldozers to destroy everything including the toys of children, while it builds and subsidizes thousands of homes for Jews, homes that house among others, friends of mine who make aliya from America? How can I understand this reality as a Jew? Is this the Jewish state I believe in and support? As a supporter of Israel, a Zionist, am I implicated in this evil act? What is the appropriate response?

These questions haunted me every time. On one visit to Israel a small group of rabbis participated in rebuilding a demolished home. While we were there some of us slept in a home threatened with imminent demolition. Later in the day as we watched the demolition trucks, police and ambulance make their rounds demolishing various Palestinian “illegal” structures, we actually saw the home being demolished. First, dozens of Israeli soldiers and police cut off access to the village, then we saw the bulldozers do their dirty work while the homeowners were wailing, the neighbors standing in shock and awe. It is is a scene that I will never forget. I was proud that Rabbi Arik Ascherman wearing a kippah was present protesting the demolition but the questions remained. Do I still believe in Zionism? Can I still be a Zionist? A Jew?

As a person who had grown up in South Africa under Apartheid, these acts of discrimination were very evocative of scenes from my childhood. Evictions was one of the brutal realities of Apartheid, part of my reality as a chid.

Over the years as I saw more and more horrifying basic violations of human rights: massive tracts of stolen Palestinian land on which settlements were built, trees uprooted and burned by settlers, homes in Silwan taken over by settlers in the middle of the night who are then protected by the Israeli army. Each time the question of Zionism came up. These demolitions, settlements, violent disposession of Palestinian homes were not “rogue” acts, the Israeli state with all its military might enabled and supported these actions. Because of my deep connection to Israel, to my friends, to Israeli culture, to what Israel meant to me and the Jewish people, it was hard for me to even think of relinquishing my Zionism. It was so much part of me and my connection to my community.

In 2008 it came to a head.

In honor of Israel’s 60th anniversary and the 20th anniversary of Rabbis for Human Rights, I planned and led a Rabbis for Human Rights trip to Israel and the West Bank entitled Planting Justice. This solidarity mission to Israel and the West Bank was part of a campaign to support the efforts of Rabbis for Human Rights and all those in Israel working to fulfill the dream of an Israel that upholds equality and justice for all -Jews and Arabs alike.

On the trip:

We visited an unrecognized Bedouin village in the Negev where Palestinians have lived since 1948 without any services, while over the same period of time countless Jewish towns, and villages have been created. There are over 150 such unrecognized villages in Israel of Palestinians displaced in the 48 war. While the Bedouin village was still unrecognized 60 years after the founding of the Israel, the government was advancing plans to ”Judaize” the Negev.

We witnessed the humiliation of Palestinians waiting for hours early in the morning at a checkpoint and then processed like a group of animals.

We replanted olive trees on Palestinian land, uprooted by Jewish settlers with the full protection of the Israeli army. The trees were undoubtedly uprooted again within days after our visit. The tract of land adjacent to where we planted the trees had been stolen from a Palestinian who took the case to the Supreme Court with the aid of Israeli human rights organizations. Despite a ruling in his favor several years ago, the land had still not been returned to him.

Hebron

And, for me this was the clincher a deserted street restricted to Jews, in the middle of Hebron, passing by Palestinian homes where the residents are not allowed to walk on the street in front of their homes. When Michael Manikin, our guide, mentioned that this was a Jews only street and showed us the apartments where Palestinians climb over the roof and then down a ladder to go to the store, the supermarket, the hospital, something in me had changed. Sadness and rage overwhelmed me. I realized that this was in some ways worse than what I had witnessed as a child in South Africa. Whenever I would compare my experience on the West Bank with my experience during Apartheid, Jews would get very angry. For many years I knew I should never use the A (Apartheid) word. At that moment I broke down crying and made a pledge that I would never again censor myself. I didn’t know it then, but that was the moment when I crossed over.

There was no word that accurately describes what we had experienced on this 12 day trip on both sides of Green Line other than systemic racism. I finally had to admit to myself what I had known for a long time but was too scared to acknowledge: political Zionism, at its core, is a discriminatory ethno-nationalism that privileges the rights of Jews over non-Jews. As such political Zionism violates everything I believe about Judaism. While there was desperate need in the 1940′s to provide a safe haven for Jews, and this need won over most of the Jewish world and the Western world to support the Zionist movement, the Holocaust can in in no way justify or excuse the systemic racism that was and remains an integral part of Zionism.

In the past I believed that the discrimination I saw: the demolished homes, the uprooted trees, the stolen land were an aberration of the Zionist vision. I came to understand that all of these were not mistakes nor a blemishes on a dream, they were all the logical outcome of Zionism.

As a Jew I believe in the inherent dignity of every human being. As a Jew I believe that justice is the core commandment of our tradition. As a Jew I believe that we are commanded to be advocates for the poor, the oppressed the marginalized. Zionism and the daily reality in Israel violated each of these core values. And, I could no longer be a Zionist. I will always be a person with deep and profound connection to Israel and my friends and family there, but I was no longer a Zionist

I came to understand that the democratic Jewish state is an illusion. There is no democratic Jewish state nor will there ever be. Israel will either be a Jewish state or a democratic state. A Jewish state by definition privileges Jews and cannot be democratic. Israel is a democratic state for Jews and a Jewish state for Arabs. It is true that Palestinians who live within Israel have the franchise but they are do not have eqaul rights in many different ways, nor could they ever be full and equal citizens of a Jewish state.

And there was another profound change in my thinking. I also came to understand that there was a direct line between the formation of Israel in 1948 and the Occupation. Just as I thought that the human rights violations were blemishes on an otherwise inspiring vision, I, like many liberal Zionists saw the Occupation as the issue. The problem were the right wing settlers and the settlements. Like most liberal Zionists, I ignored the Nakhba and the direct connection between the Nakhba and the Occupation. Without knowing it at the time, this confrontation with the Nakhba began at that meeting with Ben Gurion when I was in high school.

Ben Gurion in South Africa

When Ben Gurion visited South Africa in 1979 he was asked at a meeting of the counsellors of the Zionist youth movements about charges that in 1948, Palestinians were expelled from their homes. Red in his face, banging on the table, he adamantly asserted that not one Palestinian was expelled. The opposite: We pleaded with the Arabs to stay and promised them security but they followed the Mufti of Jerusalem who encouraged them to drive the Jews into the sea. This story is still told to explain the exodus of over 700,000 Palestinians in 1948.

For a few years I believed this standard and still prevalent untruth. We now know conclusively that this story is simply not true. Not only were Palestinians expelled from many villages and towns, often with great brutality, but Ben Gurion himself gave the order for some of these expulsions. He one of the architects of the policy of transfer. The debate still rages about exacty what happened in each village but there is overwhelming evidence that most of the Palestinians left because of actions of the Israeli forces.

The expulsion of over 600,000 Palestinians some of whom left out of fear and most because they were expelled, and the refusal to allow them to return to their homes as required by United Nations Resolution was also a logical outcome of Zionism. Removing or transferring them was essential to create a “democratic” Jewish state. Ben Gurion understood this and he was one of the architects of this policy. The Jewish state could only claim to be democratic if it had a minority of citizens that are not Jewish. Demography, not democracy is the driver. Zionism has always had the goal of control over the maximum amount of land with the minimum number of Arabs. Demography has always been the main rationale for Israeli policy. It was the policy in 1948 and it has been the same policy on the West Bank since 1967. The Occupation is simply the continuation of the same Zionist goals that led to the Nakhba.

As a liberal Zionist, we never talked much about the Nakhba. We never paid attention to the over 400 Palestinian villages that were razed to the ground, their names erased and replaced by Jewish towns, villages and kibbutzim with Hebrew names. When I made aliya to a kibbutz in 1970, I simply had no idea that most kibbutzim were built on the ruins of Palestinian villages. Last year as I was thinking about this I looked up my kibbutz and with the aid of Google in a few minutes I found a photo of the Palestinian village on which it was built.

In 2010, my family spent five months in Israel in Katamon, a neighborhood with many Anglo immigrants to Israel. As I walked around the neighborhood I wondered who lived in all these beautiful Arab homes before 48 and where were they now. In 2009, I was in Bethlehem and when some Palestinian friends and I made our way back to Jerusalem, one of them told me that her home was in Katamon! There will be no reconciliation without an acknowledgement of the dispossession of the Palestinians.

It is true that what happened in Israel was no different from what the colonialists did in North America and Africa and around the world. What is different is that the Nakhba is ongoing. The Occupation, the stealing of Palestinian land, the creation of settlements, the demolition of Arab villages in the Jordan Valley and elsewhere are a continuation of the Nakhba. It is a systematic policy by which Israel creates facts on the ground that will make life difficult for Palestinians thereby encouraging or precipitating a voluntary “transfer” of Palestinians from the West Bank. And the policy has met with success. According to the Civil Administration about a quarter million Palestinians voluntarily left the West Bank between 200-2007.

Palestinian Residency:

Another dramatic example of this policy are the regulations that revoke Palestinian residency for Palestinians who leave the country for a few years. By the time of the Oslo accords, Israel had revoked the residency of 140,000 Palestinians from the West Bank.

Gideon Levy writes: “In other words 14% of West Bank residents who dared to go abroad had their right to return to Israel and live here denied forever. In other words, they were expelled from their land and their homes. In other words: ethnic cleansing.”

He writes; “Anyone who says “it’s not apartheid” is invited to reply: Why is an Israeli allowed to leave his country for the rest of his life, and nobody suggests that his citizenship be revoked, while a Palestinian, a native son, is not allowed to do so? Why is an Israeli allowed to marry a foreigner and receive a residency permit for her, while a Palestinian is not allowed to marry his former neighbor who lives in Jordan? Isn’t that apartheid? Over the years I have documented endless pitiful tragedies of families that were torn apart, whose sons and daughters were not permitted to live in the West Bank or Gaza due to draconian rules – for Palestinians only.”

Israel recognizes that many Palestinians will not leave but it hopes to contain them in four disconnected Palestinian cantons over which it will exert maximum control and have minimal responsibility. This is the situtation Israel has created in Gaza and this is the intention for the West Bank. This is exactly what was called a Bantustan in South Africa, an area where Blacks seemingly had indepdence and autonomy but in fact were totally controlled by the White South African government.

Zionism has become a movement that displaces Palestinians and privileges Jews. The problem here is much deeper than demography; it is a problem of ethics. Political Zionism contradicts what we hold as the sacred values of Judaism and the lessons of Jewish history. Judaism has been fused with Zionism and we need a Judaism and Jewish identity without political Zionism.

2. Judaism and Zionism

Prior to the 1940′s there was a vigorous debate about Zionism and Judaism. Within the Zionist movement there was a small but influential group of very prominent leaders – Buber, Magnes and others – that understood that imposing our will on the Palestinians would create an unending cycle of violence and violate our deepest values as Jews. There were vigorous debates about Zionism and a division between political Zionists and cultural Zionists. Most Jews were not Zionists. The Holocaust transformed the Jewish world and Zionism won the sympathy of the world.

Today 60 years later there is almost no distinction made between Zionism and Judaism. Zionism has become the religion of American Jews. Even the Reform movement, the most liberal of the movements with a proud commitment to social justice and which prior to 1948 was opposed to Zionism, has made Zionism a core tenet of Judaism.

I was recently preparing a Shabbat morning service for Tikkun v’Or the Reform congregation in Ithaca. As I reviewed the service in Mishkan Tefila, the new Reform prayerbook, I came across the prayer for light that preceeds the recitation of the Shma.

“Shine a new light upon Zion, that we may all swiftly be privileged to bask in its radiance.

Blessed are You, God, Creator of the Light”

My eyes were drawn to a commentary on the bottom of the page by my colleague, Rabbi David Ellenson, the President of Hebrew Union College, the Rabbinical School of Reform rabbis.

He writes:

“Classical Reform prayerbook authors in the Diaspora consistently omitted this line with its mention of Zion from the liturgy because of their opposition to Jewish nationalism (Zionism). With the restoration of this passage to our new prayerbook, the Reform movement consciously affirms its devotion to the modern State of Israel and signals its recognition of the religious significance of the reborn Jewish commonwealth”

In his brief comment, Rabbi Ellenson describes the transformation in the Reform movement’s relationship to Zionism in the mid 20th century. In the first half of the 20th century only a minority of the world’s Jews were supporters of Zionism. The Reform movement actively opposed Zionism as antithetical to the core values of Reform Judaism dedicated to a form of Judaism that would allow Jews to uphold our tradition while fully participating in American society. Since the Holocaust there has been a complete reversal. with Reform Judaism not only affirms its devotion to Israel but ascribes to the State of Israel religious significance.

What does it mean to ascribe to a political state that is predicated on privileging a particular ethnic group, religious significance? How can American Jews who firmly advocate separation of Church and State ascribe religious significance to a Jewish State? Do we believe in a separation of religion and state in America but not in Israel?

The idea that the State of Israel has religious significance is shared by all the movements of Judaism except for some sectors of the ultra Orthodox. The formulation that is most widely accepted is that Israel is of the flowering of our redemption. of redemption, the beginning of the messianic age “Reishit tzmichat geulateynu”

Last year there was some controversy in the Reform movement when Rabbi Rick Jacobs was chosen to replace Rabbi Eric Yoffie as the the head of the Reform movement. To allay the fears of those who were afraid of Rabbi Jacobs’ support for J Street and the New Israel Fund, my colleague Rabbi Peter Knobel defended Jacobs as a “staunch Zionist.”

He wrote in Haaretz:

“This is not just a reflection of Rabbi Jacobs’ personal views, for this staunch Zionism and support for Israel are enshrined in Reform Judaism – and in the hearts of most of our more than 1.5 million Jews. For us Yom Ha’atzmaut (Israel Independence Day) is not only a national celebration but a religious one as well. [We have enriched our ritual life with new observances and liturgy rooted in our commitment to Israel. The Israeli Reform siddur, “Avodah Shebalev,” has a special Amidah and Kiddush for Independence Day. The new North American Reform siddur, “Mishkan Tefillah,” has a special service for Yom Ha’atzmaut, which uses the Israeli Declaration of Independence as a sacred text.”

“We believe that the renewal and perpetuation of Jewish national life in Eretz Yisrael is a necessary condition for the realization of the physical and spiritual redemption of the Jewish people and of all humanity. While that day of redemption remains but a distant yearning, we express the fervent hope that Medinat Yisrael, living in peace with its neighbors, will hasten the redemption of Am Yisrael, and the fulfillment of our messianic dream of universal peace under the sovereignty of God.”

What does he mean? Is the existence and perpetuation of a Jewish State, one that was created by dispossessing the Palestinian people, one that is has imposed the longest military occupation in human history is a “necessary condition for the realization of the physical and spiritual redemption of the Jewish people and all humanity?”

What is the relationship between these inspiring words and the Jewish soldiers who invaded a Palestinian home last night to arrest Palestinian children? Or to Palestinian children who are imprisoned in Israel? Or to the villagers of El Arakib whose village has been destroyed several times over the past year?

Tragically, Zionism has become the primary religious commitment for most liberal Jews, more important than any other commandment or ethical concern. As a rabbi one can say almost anything one wants about the most sacred traditions and rituals of the Jewish people but if one criticizes Israel, one could quite easily lose your job.

Birthright

In response to concern about Jewish continuity, the Jewish community has invested millions of dollars in Birthright, free trips to Israel. Instead of building a vibrant Jewish life here in America and/or creating programs in which our children could engage meaningfully in spiritually engaging/justice related projects we take our children to Israel on “birthright” What is their birthright? Do they as Jewish children growing up in security and with much privilege here in America, have a right that comes to them because they were born Jewish of a free trip to a country where Palestinians who lived there for centuries were expelled and not allowed to return and where the process of dispossession of the Palestinians is an ongoing project day by day?

This fusion of Judaism with the interests of that nation state is a tragedy for Judaism. Judaism is a religion. Zionism is a political movement associated with a particular nation state. And we need to separate the two, to create daylight between Judaism and Zionism.

We are all indebted to Mark Ellis who coined the term “Constantinian Judaism” comparing the fusion of Judaism and Zionism to the adoption of Christianity as the official religion of the Roman Empire. Christianity by becoming the religion of the empire, assumed the role of legitimating the actions of the empire. A religion that is based on the teachings of a radical prophet who taught a message of love, justice and peace was wedded to the needs and brutality of an empire. Similarly, Judaism with its profound commitment to the human dignity of all, to freedom and to justice, is now wedded of the actions of the Israeli government.

Diaspora Judaism

We need to return to the vibrant debates about the Jewish future that existed prior to 1940. We need to reclaim with pride the history of Diaspora Judaism, a Judaism that was attached to Spirit and community, not to political power. We need to affirm the value of life in Diaspora, living alongside and in relationship with people of other faiths and ethnicities. We need the wisdom of two thousand years of Jews living in Diaspora creating community and surviving despite victimization. The Zionists portray Jewish life in the Diaspora in shameful terms, as weak, effeminate, shameful. Living in Diaspora offers us many blessings.

We need to envision an Israel that is a state for all it’s citizens, a true democracy. We need to reclaim Judaism as a source of ultimate values not as the cheerleader for a nation state. Judaism is an ethical system that can and offer us wisdom about how to use power ethically.

Cast a New light upon Zion and may we all be privileged to bask in that light.

We truly need a new light with which to see Zion and it must be a a light that all can bask in.

Part 3: Solidarity, Privilege and Transformation

In his recent book, The Crisis of Judaism, Peter Beinart has pointed out the contradiction between the story of victimisation that is told almost exclusively by mainstream Jewish leaders and the reality of Jewish privilege and power. Jews in America, Israel and around the world have significant power and privilege. We were victims and have been victimized but thankfully in our world Jews are no longer victims. The challenge we face is how to live Jewishly with power and privilege. How do we respond ethically to our power and privilege.

I believe the answer to this question lies in the concept of solidarity. Judaism calls us to be in solidarity with those who are the victims of injustice. The God of Judaism is the God who cares about the oppressed Oseh mishpat la’ashukim. Our God is the God who brings people out of slavery, poverty, injustice.

The Jewish response to privilege and power is to stand in solidarity with all who are seeking justice for all. In our time, this includes standing in solidarity with the Palestinian struggle for justice and equal rights. As Americans we have a direct responsibility for the oppression of the Palestinian people – we make it possible.

Hilda followed a path of solidarity. As a Jew she was in solidarity with the Palestinian struggle for justice just as she was in solidarity with the struggle of African Americans, Black South Africans, the people of Haiti and Central America. She understood far earlier than many that this issue, the Palestinian issue, was a Jewish issue, one for which she and we are accountable.

There is a growing movement of Jews who, as Jews, support the Palestinian struggle for justice. They can be found in American Jews for a Just Peace, in Jewish Voice for Peace, in J Street, in Students for Justice in Palestine, in the US Campaign to end the Occupation and in the B.D.S. movement. Every person, every Jew will have to make a choice about how we can best support the struggle for justice.

Every day the Nakhba continues. Every day land is expropriated, Palestinians are imprisoned, brutalised. Every day our precious Jewish tradition is used to justify this oppression.

For those of us, like Hilda, for whom Judaism is essentially about justice, who have deep love for Jewish culture, we need to join in the task of reclaiming a new Judaism without Zionism. It will require vision, courage and the ability to endure many difficult and painful conversations. There are many who want to silence this new movement by name calling and intimidation.

Hilda was one person who continued despite the name calling. She developed a community of resistance, a community of Jews, Palestinians, and people of many faiths and ethnicities tied together in a shared commitment to justice. There is no better way for us to honor her memory than by traveling beyond our comfortable assumptions and choosing how we may be part of the growing movement for justice.

May her soul live on in us.

A Sheynem Dank/ Todah Rabba/Shukran/ Thank You

This post was originally published on Rabbi Walt's blog .

Detainees and Other Prisoner News

Palestinians arrest 10 Islamic Jihad members
Palestinian security forces arrested 10 members of the Islamic Jihad in the Jenin refugee camp on Monday, a local leader of the radical movement said.
link to news.yahoo.com

Islamic Jihad holds PA security responsible for assaults on its cadres
The Islamic Jihad said that the PA security men broke into houses of a number of the Islamic Jihad leaders and cadres, on Monday, in the Jenin refugee camp in Burkin town.
link to www.palestine-info.co.uk

IOF soldiers nab ten Palestinians including three children in Jerusalem and Al Khalil
Israeli occupation forces (IOF) rounded up ten Palestinians in Al-Khalil and Jerusalem over the past 24 hours including three children. 
link to www.palestine-info.co.uk

IOF soldiers detain child, summons liberated prisoner
Israeli occupation forces (IOF) detained a 15-year-old child in Beit Ummar village, north of Al-Khalil, on Monday evening, local sources said.
link to www.palestine-info.co.uk

Suspicion: Israelis harvested organs from the needy
Police suspect organ-harvesting network operated mainly in Kosovo, Azerbaijan; probe was launched after Turkish man told authorities in Kosov he was 'thrown out to the street' following operation.
link to www.ynetnews.com

Al-Jazeera's (R)Evolution?
In March of 2011, an unusually forthright editorial by an anonymous writer made its way into the Peninsula Qatar, an English language daily bankrolled by a member of the emirate’s ruling family. At the time of publication, protesters had already toppled the presidents of Tunisia and Egypt, uprisings were in full swing in Libya and Yemen, and in the Persian Gulf, Bahrainis were gearing up for what would prove a bloody battle only days after the op-ed ran. 
http://www.jadaliyya.com/pages/index/5610/al-jazeeras-(r)evolution

Lawyer: Jailed Bahrain activist granted bail
A court in Bahrain granted bail Sunday for a jailed rights activist, but he remained in detention to await another court hearing later this week, a defense lawyer said.
link to news.yahoo.com

Despite Being Granted Bill, Nabeel Rajab Still Detained
Although he was granted bill, prominent Bahraini activist Nabeel Rajab remained in jail of Al-Khalifa regime.
link to www.almanar.com.lb

Bahrain in UN spotlight over political prisoners
Bahrain faced calls at the United Nations on Monday to release its political prisoners, including prominent rights activist Nabeel Rajab who is charged with tweeting insults against the government.
link to news.yahoo.com

Bahraini Prince Should Not be Welcomed in UK, Petition Asserts
The petition drawn up by Avaaz, the world's largest and most effective online campaigning community for change, will call on the British Prime Minster David Cameron and Jacques Rogge, President of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to prevent Sheikh Nasser's entry to the UK, declaring him as "persona non grata", the Ahlul Bayt News Agency reported.
link to www.albawaba.com 

The Lede Blog: Video of Street Fighting in Beirut
A Lebanese broadcaster captured harrowing footage of the fighting between rival Sunni factions that support opposite sides of the Syrian conflict, including armed men squeezing off rounds and darting through darkened streets.
link to feeds.nytimes.com

Beirut Battle: One Night, One Street, Photo Blog by Haitham Moussawi
Street battles between pro and anti Syrian groups in Beirut overnight left two people dead, a security official said on Monday, however the Lebanese capital was largely quiet on Monday morning. "During the night, groups of young men cut off the road in the Tariq al-Jdideh district and street battles followed," the official said, requesting anonymity. "Two people were killed and 18 were wounded," he said, adding that machineguns had been fired.
link to english.al-akhbar.com

Two dead after overnight street battles but Beirut calm
Street battles between pro and anti Syrian groups in Beirut overnight left two people dead, a security official said on Monday, however the Lebanese capital was largely quiet on Monday morning. "During the night, groups of young men cut off the road in the Tariq al-Jdideh district and street battles followed," the official said, requesting anonymity. "Two people were killed and 18 were wounded," he said, adding that machineguns had been fired. Supporters of the anti-Syrian Future Movement clashed with members of the pro-Assad Arab Movement, with fighting continuing until 3.00am.
link to english.al-akhbar.com

Qahwaji: We won’t Allow Sedition in any Area in Lebanon
Lebanese Army Commander General Jean Qahwaji stressed Monday that what happened in Akkar in North Lebanon after the killing of Sheikh Ahmad Abdul Wahid and his bodyguard was the result of political tension in the region. Lebanese armyIn an interview with Al-Jomhouriya newspaper, he urged Lebanese to put an end to sedition in the country, because people adhere to the state and army.
link to www5.almanar.com.lb

High Tension in Lebanon after Death of Sheikh Abdul Wahid
Several areas in Lebanon are witnessing high tension with roads being cut and gunshots heard after the Lebanese army fired at a convoy of cars which declined to stop at an army checkpoint in the town of Alkwykhat in Akkar.
link to www.almanar.com.lb
 
Protests after Lebanese sheikh killed in Akkar
A Lebanese sheikh was shot and killed by the country's army in the northern district of Akkar on Sunday, in circumstances that were initially unclear. Sheikh Ahmad Abdel Wahed and his companion Muhammad Hussein Merheb were killed in the town of Halba, the state run National News Agency (NNA) said.  The article claimed Wahed had been heading to a sit-in protest organized by the Future Movement but had failed to stop at a military checkpoint.
link to english.al-akhbar.com

US and Russia concerned by Lebanon security situation
The United States and Russia on Monday voiced concern about security in Lebanon after two clerics were shot and killed amid violence between between pro and anti Syrian groups. US State Department deputy spokesman Mark Toner issued a statement welcoming a pledge by the Lebanese authorities to probe the shootings and urged all sides to show restraint amid fears the violence in Syria was spilling into Lebanon.
link to english.al-akhbar.com

Russia Urges Lebanon to Take Stabilization Measures
Lebanon has largely managed to remain neutral in the conflict that began in neighboring Syria last March, but violence has recently spread to the country’s northern region, which saw frequent clashes between rival Sunni groups in the past two weeks.On Sunday, Lebanese troops shot dead a Sunni cleric at a checkpoint in northern Lebanon. At least two people were killed and 18 injured in Beirut in clashes overnight. “Moscow is seriously concerned over the rise of public discontent in Lebanon…we are calling on Lebanese politicians to show restraint and high patriotic responsibility in this uneasy moment both for the country and for the region,” the Foreign Ministry said urging Lebanese authorities to restore order in the country. The ministry also said that “forces that are unable to implement their destabilization plans in Syria have turned their attention to Lebanon.” 
link to en.ria.ru
 
Lies of the US government, As'ad AbuKhalil
The recent clashes in Tripoli started with the arrest of Shadi Al-Mawlawi, a man with Al-Qa`idah connection.  The arrest was widely condemned by the "pro-Western"--according to Western media--coalition of March 14.  The other side revealed that the arrest was at the behest of the CIA.  That embarrassed the sponsors of the March 14, so pro-Saudi/US media in Lebanon, LBC TV and An-Nahar, quoted US officials as denying that they were behind the arrest.  Now, Sulayman Franjiyyah, revealed on New TV that the CIA was behind the arrest of the Jordanian suspect, and that led to the arrest of Al-Mawlawi.  So the US government was being too cute in its propaganda through March 14 media in Lebanon.
link to angryarab.blogspot.com

"Armed kids on scooters were using the anarchy to try to assassinate soldiers from behind"

"The Shiites have [Hezbollah leader Hassan] Nasrallah and [Amal leader Nabih] Berri to tell them when to fight and when to stop, and their people listen," one frustrated Beirut Sunni told me late in the evening as he checked the casualty reports on his phone. "The Sunnis? We have a poster of a dead man."

link to friday-lunch-club.blogspot.com 

 

Beirut Battle: The Day After Future’s Victory

A day after an all night battle in the Future Movement’s stronghold of Tariq al-Jdideh in the Lebanese capital, residents of the neighborhood have mixed feelings that range from the thrill of “victory” to the fear of what’s next.

link to english.al-akhbar.com 

America's favorite Salafites, As'ad AbuKhalil
The Hariri Salafites in Lebanon are of the Jihadi-Bin Ladenite type.  Those were the folks who recruited fighters in Iraq.  They have been burning Lebanon in the last few days and yet not a word against them from the US government.  They are those allies: this is one of the most unreported stories.  Western journalists who were going to Lebanon on media junkets paid for by Hariri family were introduced to the Whiskey sipping members of the Hariri media office and they were not introduced to the muscle on the street.  Can you imagine if the culprits were from Hizbullah? The UN Security Council would have met in an emergency session and sanctions would have been ordered against Lebanon. 
link to angryarab.blogspot.com

The Salafi monster in Lebanon and Jeffrey Feltman, As'ad AbuKhalil
I will write about that later but make no mistake about it: Jeffrey Feltman and US policies in Lebanon during the Bush administration are responsible for the rise of the Jihadi-Salafi monster in Lebanon.  They wanted a sectarian counter to Hizbullah and found one.  I hope that they are enjoying it.  Hariri camp has been speaking about "a civil state" in Lebanon (this is very much a code word by the Muslim Brotherhood to mask their aim at Islamization of society and state): I believe them but we did not know that they wanted Ayman Adh-Dhawahiri as its head.
link to angryarab.blogspot.com

Muhammad Ra`d: Hizbullah's second thoughts on Syria, As'ad AbuKhalil
On the sinking Syrian regime ship.  People did not notice the speech by Muhammad Ra`d (the head of Hizbullah parliamentary bloc who has a unique way of expressing his political views--he was a teacher of Arabic).  Ra`d spoke about Syria in a tone that can be contrasted with the rest of Hizbullah's rhetoric about Syria.  He spoke about the right of the Syrian people to determine their future, and spoke about the freedom of the Syrian people to chose.  The party must have realized how much fodder he has provided to his enemies in Saudi/Hariri media by his unconditional and unlimited support for the lousy regime.
link to angryarab.blogspot.com

Kuwait warns residents not to visit Lebanon
Kuwait's Foreign Ministry has told its citizens to leave Lebanon and avoid traveling to the country because of increasing violence fueled by the revolt in neighboring Syria, state-run news agency KUNA reported on Monday, citing a ministry source. "Kuwaitis...should not travel to Lebanon under any circumstances," KUNA quoted the source as saying. The decision follows similar announcements by Bahrain, Qatar and the UAE on Sunday. At least two people were killed in Beirut in heavy clashes between rival Sunni Muslim gunmen early on Monday. 
link to english.al-akhbar.com

Tripoli: Salafis Make Their Move
The repeated security breaches in the Northern Lebanese city of Tripoli raise questions about who’s in control of the security situation on the ground. There are no definitive answers to these questions, but the growing influence of Salafi forces is visible.
link to english.al-akhbar.com

Don't blame Syria – Lebanon's leaders are fuelling the fighting in Tripoli, Patrick Galey
The resulting flare-ups have been carefully managed by sectarian leaders and have helped maintain the real reason why Tripoli is such a hotbed for hostility. For behind all of Syria's influence in Lebanon, and underneath a past of political manipulation, the true cause of Tripoli's violent present lies in the city's appalling neglect. The figures speak for themselves. Close to 40% of all Lebanon's poor live in Tripoli or the surrounding areas. More than half of Tripoli residents are classed as either "poor" or "extremely poor." Of those families who live in the trouble hotspots of Bab al-Tabbaneh and Jabal Mohsen, 82% live on less than the equivalent of £336 per month. Illiteracy and unemployment rates in the city are way above the national average.  While it is true that all areas of Lebanon have suffered in recent decades as the country attempts to recover from its civil war and subsequent conflicts, Tripoli residents have endured special hardship. Compared for example to parts of southern Beirut and the south, where inhabitants worst affected by Hezbollah's 2006 war with Israel have had their homes rebuilt and infrastructure improved, the people of Tripoli receive precious little by way of financial support from either state or private sponsors.
link to www.guardian.co.uk

About Last Night
Last night the sound of gunfire punctuated the Beirut soundscape. Supporters of the anti-Syrian and majority Sunni Future Movement clashed with members of the pro-Assad and Sunni Majority Arab Movement. The fighting, which was most intense around the Beirut Arab University, continued until the early hours of the morning.
link to www.jadaliyya.com

The Number One Sunni in Lebanon, Qifa Nabki

The Future Movement has seized on these events to make a typically hamfisted play, pressuring Miqati to resign. I don’t see that succeeding unless the situation in Tripoli becomes far worse. And even in such a case, I continue to believe that Hariri has no desire to return to the limelight so soon. He is biding his time abroad not because of security threats but because the position of the Lebanese Prime Minister — the Number One Sunni in Lebanon — is precisely where he doesn’t want to be right now.

link to qifanabki.com

 

Syria

 

Bomb kills 5 in Syrian capital
A bomb that apparently struck a restaurant in the Syrian capital killed at least five people, the state-run news agency said Tuesday, as activists reported intense clashes between army defectors and soldiers in the restive north.

link to news.yahoo.com

 

Syria forces kill deserters as NATO rejects action
Syrian forces ambushed and killed nine army deserters in a north Damascus suburb on Monday, a human rights watchdog said, as NATO ruled out military action against the regime of President Bashar al-Assad.
link to news.yahoo.com

 

Ex-detainee: Syrian prisons are 'slaughterhouses'
A prominent Palestinian writer who was jailed in Syria for nearly three weeks described the facilities as "human slaughterhouses," saying security agents beat detainees with batons, crammed them into stinking cells and tied them to beds at night.

link to news.yahoo.com

 

NATO chief says 'no intention' to intervene in Syria
NATO chief Anders Fogh Rasmussen on Sunday voiced concern about violence in Syria, but said the alliance has "no intention" of taking military action against the regime.

link to news.yahoo.com

 

Bomb detonates near UN observers in Syria
No casualties reported in blast in Damascus suburb, as UN peacekeeping chief urges all parties to exercise restraint.

link to www.aljazeera.com

 

Opposition groups report clashes in Syrian capital
A restive district of the Syrian capital that has been a hotbed of dissent against President Bashar Assad was rocked by fighting overnight between government forces and army defectors, opposition groups said Sunday.

link to news.yahoo.com

 

High-ranking Syrian officials deny reports of their own assassinations
Two high-ranking Syrian officials denied in interviews with state television on Sunday reports by pan-Arab channels that they, along with four other regime stalwarts, had been assassinated. 

link to english.alarabiya.net

Opposition Says it has Killed Top Six Regime Figures, But Claim is Doubtful

This photo of an opposition banner hung on a dormitory at the University of Aleppo shows the growing reach of the opposition in Aleppo. Another sign of the growing capability of the opposition is its ability to set off car bombs with growing regularity near intelligence offices and in Syria’s major cities, such as this one: Car bomb hits Syrian city of Deir al-Zour, killing 9 instantly and wounding 100. An intelligence headquarters was the target. 

link to www.joshualandis.com

Syrian opposition to announce new leader
Syria's opposition group, the Syrian National Council says it's almost ready to announce a new leader. The group's been in disarray, increasingly accused of being ineffective and out of touch with the armed struggle. Laurence Lee looks at whether a new chief might restore some of its legitimacy.
link to www.youtube.com
 

Inside Syria: An opposition divided 
The Syrian opposition appears to have come apart at the seams as different factions vie for leadership roles. James Bays discusses with Bassma Kodmani in Paris, Dr. Kamal al-Labwani in Cairo and Josh Landis in Oklahoma.

link to www.youtube.com

Syria: Losing Its Youth
The newly-politicized generation of young Syrians are constantly facing fresh challenges and bleak prospects. As employment opportunities dwindle, it becomes even harder to stay in their country.

link to english.al-akhbar.com

Other World News

 

US ambassador to Afghanistan quits amid worsening relations

The US ambassador to Afghanistan, Ryan Crocker, is to leave his post this summer, the embassy in Kabul confirmed on Tuesday. "Amb Crocker has confirmed with regret that he will be leaving Kabul this summer," the embassy said on its Twitter feed, a day after the conclusion of a NATO summit in Chicago in which leaders charted a path out of the Afghan war. The veteran diplomat, who was appointed to Kabul 10 months ago, previously served as the US envoy to Iraq, Pakistan and Syria.

link to english.al-akhbar.com

 

US protesters condemn NATO
Protesters gathering in Chicago for the NATO summit geared up on Sunday for the largest demonstration of the weekend, as thousands are expected to march from a downtown park to the lakeside convention center where President Barack Obama and other world leaders were meeting. Hours before the main demonstration was set to start, protesters – including peace activists, war veterans and those more focused on the economy – began arriving at Grant Park, holding signs denouncing NATO, including ones that read: "War(equals)Debt" and "NATO, Go Home."

link to english.al-akhbar.com

"No NATO, No War": U.S. Veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan Return War Medals at NATO Summit
We broadcast from Chicago, site of the largest NATO summit in the organization’s six-decade history. On Sunday, veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, as well as members of Afghans For Peace, led a peace march of thousands of people. Iraq Veterans Against the War held a ceremony where nearly 50 veterans discarded their war medals by hurling them down the street in the direction of the NATO summit. We hear the soldiers’ voices as they return their medals one by one from the stage. "I am giving back my global war on terror service medal in solidarity with the people of Iraq and Afghanistan," said Jason Heard, a former combat medic who spent 10 years in the U.S. Army. "I am deeply sorry for the destruction that we have caused in these countries and around the globe."
link to www.democracynow.org

Scott Olsen, U.S. Vet Who Nearly Lost Life at Occupy Protest, Brings Antiwar Message to NATO Summit
We’re joined at the NATO summit in Chicago by Scott Olsen, who survived two tours in Iraq but almost died when he was hit with a police projectile at an Occupy Oakland protest last year. Olsen returned four of his medals at Sunday’s antiwar march. When asked why he’s joined the Occupy movement and is protesting against the heavily-policed NATO summit, Olsen says, "I am going to make every effort I can to show them that we’re doing the right thing. No matter what they do to any of us, we’ve got each other’s backs and we’re going forward."
link to www.democracynow.org

U.S. Army Vets Join With Afghans For Peace to Lead Antiwar March at Chicago NATO Summit
Sunday’s antiwar march at the NATO summit in Chicago was led by members of Iraq Veterans Against the War (IVAW) and Afghans For Peace. "We’re here to protest NATO and call on all NATO representatives to end this inhumane, illegal and barbaric war against our home country and our people," says Suraia Sahar, a member of Afghans For Peace who marched alongside Afghan war veteran Graham Clumpner during anti-NATO protest in Chicago. "I feel honored standing next to this veteran because in my opinion they are doing the right thing by speaking out against the occupation and war alongside us." Clumpner says, "I reject any affiliation with this war."
link to www.democracynow.org

Chicago Police Face Accusations of Entrapment, Brutality in Crackdown on NATO Protesters
Dozens of anti-NATO protesters have been arrested in Chicago over the past several days including five men who were jailed on domestic terrorism charges. Three of the men were accused of plotting to attack President Barack Obama’s campaign headquarters, Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s home and other targets. Their lawyers say they were entrapped by government informants. The Chicago police have also been criticized by activist groups for using violent force to break up protests and accused of targeting independent media activists who have been streaming the protests live over the Internet. On Saturday night three helping to live stream video of the protests were detained at gunpoint.
link to www.democracynow.org

 

Imagine the reaction if a Muslim cleric in the U.S. said this: North Carolina pastor: Send LGBT people to concentration camps to die

Pastor Charles Worley of the Providence Road Baptist Church in North Carolina recently told his congregation that LGBT individuals should be rounded up and detained in camps until they’re all dead. During a sermon on May 13, Worley berated President Barack Obama for claiming that same sex couples should be allowed to marry. “The Bible is against it, God is against it, I’m against it and if you’ve got any sense you’re against it,” he said. “I figured a way out to get rid of all the lesbians and queers. But it isn’t going to pass in Congress. Build a great, big, large fence — 150 or 100 mile long — put all the lesbians in there. Fly over and drop some food. Do the same thing for the queers and the homosexuals, and have that fence electrified so they can’t get out, feed em, and you know what, in a few years, they’ll die out. You know why? They can’t reproduce!” “I am not going to vote for a baby killer and a homosexual lover,” Worley added. “God have mercy, it makes me puking sick.”

link to www.rawstory.com

 

UAE ruler cancels debts of defaulting borrowers
Citizens of the oil-rich United Arab Emirates who defaulted on hundreds of thousands of dollars in loans could soon see their debts wiped away.

link to news.yahoo.com

Kuwaiti Shiite tweeter 'denies insulting prophet'
A Kuwaiti Shiite tweeter on Monday denied in court charges that he insulted Islam's Prophet Mohammed, his wife Aisha and some companions, his lawyer Khaled al-Shatti said.
link to news.yahoo.com
Suicide bombing kills nearly 100 soldiers in Yemen
A suicide bomber blew himself up at a military parade rehearsal Monday in Yemen's capital, killing 96 soldiers in one of the deadliest attacks in the city in years, officials said.
link to news.yahoo.com

Robert Fisk: Abdelbaset Ali al-Megrahi is dead. Now we'll never know the truth about Lockerbie
So the old scoundrel has died. Midday Tripoli time, at his home, peacefully, Abdelbaset Ali al-Megrahi, after a long struggle with cancer, "bravely borne" no doubt. But "scoundrel", nonetheless, not because he arranged the Lockerbie bombing – many have the gravest doubts he ever did – but because he was a member of Gaddafi's intelligence services and no-one who served the Great Leader as a "mukhabarat" agent had clean hands. If he was wrongly convicted, what did he do in the service of his master? Cliché time: his secret dies with him.