The ancient city of Jerusalem is at the core of this conflict. And so it seems there is only one road to peace and it lies through Jerusalem. Here is my proposal: move the formal headquarters of the United Nations from New York to Jerusalem.

In a bold action, Block the Boat activists from Tampa delayed the unloading of a ZIM boat for more than 5 hours Saturday morning.Chaining themselves by the neck to a parked car in front of Tampa’s port entrance, Block the Boat activists prevented the police from dispersing them for several hours after the break of dawn. Eventually, according to Ahmad Saadaldin, “the boat unloaded unfortunately, but there was a MAJOR delay. Port of Tampa has never seen anything like this before. It was an apocalyptic traffic jam. It’s all inspired by Block the Boat Oakland.”

For the next three months Israeli Knesset member Haneen Zoabi (Balad) will not be allowed to speak on the parliament floor or introduce committee discussions. Though she will be allowed to put on a suit, enter the building of Israel’s Knesset in Jerusalem, and sit quietly. On Wednesday in an appeal vote her peers confirmed her suspension from office, the longest in Israel’s history.

It is nearly unheard of for Israeli police to block Jewish worshipers from reaching the Western Wall. But yesterday afternoon border authorities cinched back a hard plastic retracting wall of a Jerusalem checkpoint to reach the holy structures and for the first time in 14 years they also closed all access to al-Aqsa Mosque compound, preventing prayer in a campaign to stifle unrest smothering Jerusalem.

Solidarity’s deadend: Those who have the power to change Palestinian reality, the United States and Europe, aren’t going to push the Jewish/Israeli empire too far, if at all. Their strategic interests are at play. The history of Jews in Europe and the importance of the Jewish vote and influence in the United States casts a huge political shadow. Outside efforts by “friends” of the Palestinians have been piecemeal; and they appeal to the powers that be.

SodaStream stock is still in free fall and the company announced yesterday that it is dumping its apartheid digs in the occupied West Bank. SodaStream says it plans to move to the heavily subsidized Idan HaNegev Industrial Park /Lehavim Industrial zone, 1,100-acre “development zone” in the Negev desert where Palestinian Bedouins are being forcibly removed by the Israeli government. Although the move from the occupied territories is certainly a victory, it’s not enough for boycott activists.

When Times columnist David Brooks revealed that his son was in the Israeli army in Aspen on July 1, folks gasped, but no journalist picked up on it. That’s how the establishment works.

I was drawn to Auschwitz to see how I would react, both emotionally and intellectually. Would visiting Auschwitz force me to reconsider my position on the State of Israel and my opposition to the type of Zionism that drives it? Would standing in the one extant gas chamber at Auschwitz 1 force me to consider my luck at having been born a Jew in 1976 in New York as opposed to 36 years earlier somewhere in Europe and therefore change my political values?

Ma‘an reports: “Thousands of Palestinians participated in a march on Wednesday in Israel commemorating the 58th anniversary of the Kafr Qasim massacre, amid a comprehensive strike across the city.”

So now we’re back to the status quo. Al Aqsa is open again for prayer. If you’re over 50. Perhaps identification proving age will be required. Al Aqsa AARP? The status quo is death for Palestinians. Before death, ethnic cleansing. Before death, ghettoization. Are we really supposed to celebrate occupied prayer at Al Aqsa?