vjp-global

http://www.ynetnews.com/home/0,7340,L-3082,00.html   Officials say a group of pro-Palestinian protesters are again blocking an Israeli-owned commercial ship from unloading its cargo at a port in California…   The [200] protesters are demonstrating in response to recent Israeli military action in the Gaza Strip.     Posted by Judith Ferster, AIME member

http://mondoweiss.net/2014/09/elizabeth-sanders-bandwagon?utm_source=Mondoweiss+List&utm_campaign=2b7ebd78ca-RSS_EMAIL_CAMPAIGN&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_b86bace129-2b7ebd78ca-398495333   The Senate is warning Palestinians against undertaking any "negative" unilateral actions re Israel at the United Nations, and look who isn't signing on to the letter that AIPAC has endorsed : Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts. Folks have been pressing Warren and her staffers not to sign this letter – and she didn't. Neither did Bernie Sanders of Vermont. Maybe the national publicity and pressure on these progressives over their Israel-Palestine positions moved them? Maybe they're tacking ahead of 2016? Here are the 12 non-signers, from both parties: Bernard Sanders (I), Bob Corker (R), Elizabeth Warren (D), Harry Reid*, Jeff Sessions (R), John D. Rockefeller IV*, Lisa Murkowski (R), Patrick J. Leahy* (D), Rand Paul (...

http://mondoweiss.net/2014/09/extrajudicial-palestinians-kidnapping?utm_source=Mondoweiss+List&utm_campaign=657b2be8e1-RSS_EMAIL_CAMPAIGN&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_b86bace129-657b2be8e1-398495333   Overnight Tuesday Israeli special forces killed two Palestinian men who were suspected of kidnapping and slaying three Israeli youths abducted in June while hitchhiking in the Gush Etzion settlement bloc of the West Bank.   [This article reports on the suspects on the run, the fire-fight that killed them, violence at their funeral, the indictment of the suspected organizer, and  the re-instatement of punitive house demolitions.]   Posted by Judith Ferster, AIME member

http://www.timesofisrael.com/surrounded-by-islamist-brutality-says-tzipi-livni-israel-cant-just-huddle-into-itself/?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter   [Livni is] adamant that a serious effort at peacemaking is vital to Israel's security, to the partnerships Israel seeks elsewhere in the region, to the maintenance of a strong relationship with the United States, and to Israel's very capacity to defend itself against the rising tide of brutal Islamic extremism….   In our conversation... the justice minister was both nuanced and candid in tracing the collapse of the US-mediated peace effort she led on Israel's behalf until this spring, outspoken in her criticism of Israel's settlement policies, unsparing over her grievances with PA President Mahmoud Abbas, and emphatic about the centrality of a credible, pro-peace policy to Israel's capacity to retain international legitimacy.   Posted by Judith Fer...

http://www.telesurtv.net/english/news/Pro-Israel-Groups-Finance-Training-U.S.-Police-in-Israel-20140921-0015.html   At a least 300 hing-ranking police officers from the U.S. have received ''counter-terrorism'' training in Israel funded by pro-Israeli lobby groups in the U.S., a new report by the Center for Investigative Reporting (CIR) shows…   A long-range "sound rifle" - that emits ear-shattering noise to disperse demonstrations - was used against protestors in the occupied West Bank in 2005 as well as recently against anti-racism demonstrations in Ferguson. Security forces from Israel have also trained police in Mexico since 1994, in response to the Zapatista uprising in Chiapas.   Posted by Judith Ferster, AIME member

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/sep/12/israeli-intelligence-veterans-letter-netanyahu-military-chiefs   Read the letter from 34 reserve soldiers who have served in Unit 8200 explaining why they refuse to serve in Palestinian territories     Posted by Judith Ferster, AIME member

http://www.nybooks.com/articles/archives/2014/oct/09/israel-us-delusions-our-diplomacy/?utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=September+19+2014&utm_content=September+19+2014+CID_f19614b76a170b158715eb1c320f1311&utm_source=Email%20marketing%20software&utm_term=The%20Delusions%20of%20Our%20Diplomacy   [Conclusion]:   US policy is designed to thwart actions that would raise the costs of the status quo, in effect sustaining it. At the same time, the US expends considerable effort preaching to unconvinced Israeli and Palestinian leaders that the continuing impasse cannot be sustained. But most Israeli voters, and many among the Palestinian elite, are quite at ease with existing conditions, thanks in no small part to the United States. This will remain so as long as the different proponents of the US-led peace process insist on mediating the conflict even as they help perpetuate it. Rather than accepting current circumstances in an effo...

http://mondoweiss.net/2014/09/guilty-crimes-palestine?utm_source=Mondoweiss+List&utm_campaign=534594c54a-RSS_EMAIL_CAMPAIGN&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_b86bace129-534594c54a-398495333   The U.S. is not a neutral mediator in the Palestinian-Israeli conflict; it is an active participant and is guilty of the crimes being committed by Israel against Palestinians, most recently, the mass killings and destruction Israel wrought on the Gaza Strip during the summer. The reality that the U.S. is an active supporter of unimaginable suffering may very well be the motivating force behind the U.S.'s adamant attempts to block the Palestinians from using any of the internationally recognized tools of accountability to hold Israel responsible, such as the International Court of Justice and the International Criminal Court. ..   Posted by Judith Ferster, AIME member

Full text: http://www.jpost.com/Middle-East/ISIS-fight-requires-genocidal-Israel-leave-Palestine-Iran-says-375854 Destroying the Islamic State will require Israel leaving Palestine, Iran's deputy foreign minister Abbas Araghchi said on Friday. Speaking before the United Nations Security Council at a meeting on the crisis in Iraq, Araghchi said that Israel's actions in Gaza can "only be called genocide," and said that such actions were a rallying cry for Islamic State. Posted by Sam Bryan, AIME member

Full text: http://www.timesofisrael.com/israel-palestinian-solution-to-be-put-to-un-security-council-france/ “We will have a resolution, to be presented to the Security Council, that will say very clearly what we expect from the (peace) process and what the solution to the conflict must be,” Hollande told reporters in a joint news conference with Abbas. Posted by Sam Bryan, AIME member

http://www.timesofisrael.com/hamas-said-to-arrest-mortar-launchers/   Hamas has arrested those responsible for firing a mortar toward Israel on Tuesday evening, Israeli security sources said late Tuesday. Ynet quoted the sources saying that after the mortar was fired, Hamas relayed a message to Israel saying it would arrest the perpetrators, which it did later on Tuesday. Posted by Judith Ferster, AIME member

  http://wunc.org/post/trumans-israel-palestine-dilemma   [On his book tour for Genesis: Truman, American Jews, and the Origins of the Arab-Israeli Conflict , John Judis spoke to Frank Stasio on the State of Things.]   The pro-Israel lobby was pushing for its own sovereign nation, but Truman was leaning toward a two-state solution while his State Department said the British should keep control of Palestine.  Facing political pressure, Truman eventually called for the U.S. to recognize Israel, but his correspondence shows that he knew it would not be a peaceful solution.  Posted by Judith Ferster, AIME member

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/sep/12/israeli-intelligence-unit-testimonies   Testimonies from people who worked in the Israeli Intelligence Corps tell of a system where there were no boundaries   Conclusion: The Israeli public thinks that intelligence work is only against terrorism, but a significant part of our objectives are innocent people, not at all connected to any military activity. They interest the unit for other reasons, usually without having the slightest idea that they're intelligence targets. They cannot begin to guess for what reasons they interest the unit. We did not treat those targets any differently than we did terrorists. The fact that they were innocent was not at all relevant as far as we were concerned with regard to how we treated them. Something I had a really hard time with was that all kinds of personal data was stored in the unit, such that coul...

http://electronicintifada.net/blogs/ali-abunimah/watch-univ-illinois-top-officials-challenged-pro-israel-donors-role-salaita?utm_source=EI+readers&utm_campaign=97736fff52-RSS_EMAIL_CAMPAIGN&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_e802a7602d-97736fff52-290650941     The board of trustees of the University of Illinois voted today to reject the appointment of Steven Salaita as dozens of student and faculty supporters of the professor packed the meeting room at the Urbana-Champaign campus. Before and immediately after the vote, The Electronic Intifada questioned top university officials on video, including the president, chancellor, board chair and several trustees, about the apparent influence of pro-Israel donors on the decision to fire Salaita…   Posted by Judith Ferster, AIME member

Full text: http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/sep/12/israeli-intelligence-reservists-refuse-serve-palestinian-territories Forty-three veterans of one of Israel's most secretive military intelligence units – many of them still active reservists – have signed a public letter refusing to serve in operations involving the occupied Palestinian territories because of the widespread surveillance of innocent residents. Posted by Sam Bryan, AIME member

http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2014/09/isrel-left-wing-smola-leftwards-naftali-bennett-unite.html   Leftist activists are working to restore the image of the "left," but the key to power and to becoming a political alternative lies in the center and left parties' ability to merge into a critical mass. Mazal Mualem says that "instead of dealing with branding, [leftist activists] should really internalize that [Finance Minister Yair] Lapid, Livni and possibly even former Likud Minister Moshe Kahlon are playing in their court. They should therefore focus on creating a center of mass politics that will apply pressure from the bottom up on the heads of all the parties in the center and on the left, so that they join forces before the next elections."   Posted by Judith Ferster, AIME member

http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4569743,00.html   Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories issues new pin depicting handshake between Israelis and Palestinians.‬..   Posted by Judith Ferster, AIME member

http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/1.615253   An international human rights group says Israel committed war crimes in the latest round of fighting against Hamas in Gaza….   …The UN, which has accused both Israel and Hamas militants of violating the rules of war, has appointed a commission of inquiry to look into the fighting.   Posted by Judith Ferster, AIME member

http://www.timesofisrael.com/hamas-may-break-taboo-and-negotiate-with-israel-leader-says/   In dramatic change of policy, Moussa Abu Marzouk says Gazans want direct contact between Hamas and Jewish state   In a dramatic political about-face, a senior Hamas official said that his movement may seek to negotiate with Israel, claiming that Islamic faith does not prohibit such contacts. Moussa Abu Marzouk, deputy head of Hamas's political bureau, told Palestinian Al-Quds TV on Wednesday that Hamas may be forced to negotiate with Israel, since the vast majority of Gaza Strip residents demand it...   Posted by Judith Ferster, AIME member

https://www.oximity.com/article/Breaking-The-Silence-and-its-colonial-1#.VAvJazu0uqo.twitter An important piece in light of the AIME forum scheduled for 26 October 2014. "If the world wants to talk about Palestinian oppression, let them use the voice of Palestinians, the ones directly affected by this oppression. It is vital that we do not exalt former perpetrators because they used their tongues after they pulled on their triggers. Their role is in documenting and presenting to their own communities, in order to shift the thought there, pushing for cognitive dissonance. However, in regards to the international community, it cannot be allowed to have a colonizer's voice dominate that of the colonized whilst attempting to break the colonial narrative. " Thanks to Dorothy Naor for circulating this on the New Profile list and for posting it on Facebook. Submitted by Donna Hicks, AIME member

http://mondoweiss.net/2014/09/untangling-salaita-case.html?utm_source=Mondoweiss+List&utm_campaign=562c331e44-RSS_EMAIL_CAMPAIGN&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_b86bace129-562c331e44-398495333   [Discussion of the civility issue, threats of withdrawal of funds from donors, and due process.] Posted by Judith Ferster, AIME member

http://www.economist.com/blogs/economist-explains/2014/07/economist-explains-12 … America's Muslims are better off than their European co-religionists. They are almost as likely as other Americans to report a household income of $100,000 or more. The same cannot be said of the Pakistanis who came to work in the now-defunct textile mills of northern England or the Turks who became guest workers in West Germany. Many American Muslims arrived in the 1970s to complete their higher education and ended up staying. Muzammil Siddiqi, chairman of the Fiqh Council of North America, which issues fatwas, or religious opinions, to guide the behaviour of the country's Muslims, is typical: he was born in India and holds a Harvard PhD in comparative religion…   A few bad apples For the past dozen years the FBI and other agencies have been watching mosques in the hope of spotting would-be terrorists early. This has yielded little, althoug...

http://www.nybooks.com/articles/archives/2014/sep/25/failure-gaza/utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=September+5+2014&utm_content=September+5+2014+CID_6aa5d1781fd5108d1f8fd29818cdf11d&utm_source=Email%20marketing%20software&utm_term=Failure%20in%20Gaza   Conclusion:    An agreement can be reached with the Palestinians, too: the terms are known and the price is fixed. Whether it is reached or not is a matter of political will on the part of Israeli and Palestinian leaders. Unfortunately, Israel's current leadership will do anything to avoid this choice, to the detriment of both peoples. The war in Gaza is, fundamentally, not about tunnels and not against rockets. It is a war over the status quo. Netanyahu's "conflict management" is a euphemism for maintaining a status quo of settlement and occupation, allowing no progress. The Israeli opposition must distance itself from th...

http://al-shabaka.org/policy-brief/politics/drying-palestine-israel%E2%80%99s-systemic-water-war An Al-Shabaka policy brief by Muna Dalani. Submitted by Donna Hicks, AIME member

http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opinion/2014/09/rhetoric-racism-from-ferguson-pa-20149461827965518.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medi Nadia Barhoum of the Palestinian Youth Movement makes some connections.

http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2014/09/israel-hamas-fatah-mahmoud-abbas-no-choice-unity-government.html   Summary: Despite attempts by Hamas to topple Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, the latter knows that he must preserve the Fatah-Hamas unity government at all costs, as the West Bank and the Gaza Strip risk becoming two Palestinian states.   Snippet:   Hamas needs Abbas to monitor the border crossings. Abbas, for his part, is loath to dismantle the unity agreement, even though the true face of the Hamas movement has been revealed to him. Abbas knows that dismantling the alliance would be tantamount to admitting that Fatah men have zero chances of setting foot on Gaza land from which they were forcefully expelled about seven years ago. The Fatah-Hamas government, which the two sides are keeping on life support, is the only thing that inspires some hope, however slight, in Palestinian unity. Without it, Gaza an...