vjp-global

https://972mag.com/watch-bereaved-palestinian-and-israelis-mark-womens-day/125888/ Israeli and Palestinian women commemorated International Women's Day last week by destroying a mockup separation wall in the West Bank city of Beit Jala. The event, put on by the Bereaved Families Forum, included a vigil in memory of those who have lost their lives in the conflict. Among the speakers were Suha Abu Khdeir, the mother of Mohammed Abu Khdeir, who was kidnapped and burned alive by three Israelis in July 2014… Posted by Judith Ferster, AIME member

https://972mag.com/netanyahus-alt-zionism-has-no-need-for-american-jews/125898/ Instead of firmly speaking out against the more than 190 anti-Semitic threats   and attacks over the past few weeks [in the United States], Netanyahu has decided to throw the American Jewish community under the bus of right-wing Israeli fanaticism… Benjamin Netanyahu fancies himself a historically significant leader, a kind of Jewish Winston Churchill; he has gone on record repeatedly about his deep admiration for the British prime minister who risked isolation and unpopularity before World War II rather than negotiate with Nazi Germany. But Netanyahu, in throwing the American Jewish community under the bus of right-wing Israeli fanaticism, has proven himself to be more of a Marshal Pétain. Posted by Judith Ferster, AIME member

http://mondoweiss.net/2017/03/unlikely-dramatic-muhammad/   Taha Muhammad Ali is an unlikely dramatic hero. His arms shake with age and infirmity, his legs occasionally buckle, and he often appears lost on stage, as if adrift in a vast expanse of sadness. But for an hour the story of this Palestinian poet has a vice-like hold on our attention and our hearts. The one-man show "Taha" receives its English-language premiere on Wednesday at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington DC. It offers not only a rare chance to learn about one of Palestine's finest poets, but provides a visceral account of what it was like to live through the Nakba – the Catastrophe that befell hundreds of thousands of Palestinians who were expelled from their homeland in 1948… Posted by Judith Ferster, AIME member

http://www.maannews.com/Content.aspx?id=776007   After the head of a United Nations agency resigned from her post, citing pressure from the UN Secretary-General to censor a new report that accused Israel of imposing an apartheid regime on Palestinians, Palestinian officials denounced the UN for removing the report.  Head of the UN Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (ESCWA) Rima Khalaf resigned on Friday, telling reporters in Beirut that UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres had insisted on the withdrawal of the damning report, which was no longer visible on ESCWA's website on Friday…     Posted by Judith Ferster, AIME member

https://972mag.com/aipac-gave-60k-to-architect-of-trumps-muslim-ban/125880/ New tax filings show the country's largest pro-Israel group gave money to a think tank that played a pivotal role in engineering Trump's ban on Muslim immigration.    Posted by Judith Ferster, AIME member

https://972mag.com/for-gazas-working-women-glass-ceilings-arenthe-only-problem/125748/ Gaza's working women earn 25 percent more, on average, than their male counterparts, according to a new report. Why are they still trapped under a 'concrete' ceiling?     Posted by Judith Ferster, AIME member

https://972mag.com/israel-and-hamas-need-each-other-now-more-than-ever/125775/ …Defense Minister Liberman's threats that the IDF will be more intentional and aggressive the next time it faces off with Hamas is a testament to the fact that he understands the price of managing this kind of conflict — one in which there are no winners or losers. However, a lack of desire to destroy Hamas in such a way that will bring about the re-occupation of the Strip means that the fate of the next confrontation will end the same way as the previous ones: a strategic tie at the price of continual human suffering in Israel and Gaza.   Posted by Judith Ferster, AIME member

http://jstreet.org/press-releases/knesset-bill-banning-bds-supporters-israel-damages-israels-democracy-helps-bds-movement/#.WL-BooW_5Oh   "J Street is alarmed by the Knesset's passage of a bill that bans entry to Israel of foreign nationals who call for economic, cultural or academic boycotts of either Israel or the territory it controls beyond the Green Line. The bill is the latest piece of Israeli legislation to undermine Israel's own democratic principles and its international standing. As a liberal democracy, Israel should be able to tolerate non-violent political protest and dissent, no matter how much it disagrees with the ideology or goals of BDS supporters…..We note that there are strong supporters and friends of Israel who participate in or advocate for targeted boycotts of the settlement enterprise beyond the Green Line, motivated by a desire to oppose the occupation and support the two-state solution. While J Street does not share their views, we ...

http://fathomjournal.org/seize-the-moment-build-a-new-regional-paradigm/   The end goal should be a regional package deal that comprises the two-state solution as well as regional security cooperation, regional economic cooperation and regional normalisation agreements. Negotiations should be conducted in parallel between Israel and the PA and Israel and the key Arab states. Negotiations will be based on TOR of the end game, reflecting the spirit of the API and Israeli interests. While the end-game package is negotiated, it should be reached in a series of phased and transitional agreements. The guiding principle should be that everything that has been agreed and can be implemented should be implemented. The process should be regionally led and internationally supported with the US, Russia and the EU playing a role of conveners and enablers. There should be no international pressure on Israel since this de-incentivises the parties...

http://mondoweiss.net/2017/03/annexation-immediate-lieberman/ - comments   The announcement today by Israeli Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman at the Knesset Defense and Foreign Affairs Committee, that the Trump administration warned Israel that imposing sovereignty over the West Bank would cause an "immediate crisis" between the U.S. and Israel, is  spreading like wildfire ... We may be hearing more on this latest development soon as  Lieberman is due to meet with top U.S. administration officials this week in Washington. Posted by Judith Ferster, AIME member

http://www.maannews.com/Content.aspx?id=775669   After Israeli authorities shut down a Palestinian elementary school in the occupied East Jerusalem town of Sur Bahir last Thursday over alleged "incitement" in its study materials, students attended class in the street on Sunday and protested against Israel's decision to close the school.. Israeli authorities from the education ministry claimed the school was established by Hamas with the aim of teaching "content that undermines the sovereignty of Israel," and that the school's aims were "consistent with the ideology of the terror organization, which calls for the destruction of Israel," the Times of Israel said... According to the Palestinian Ministry of Education, Palestinian children suffer from routine Israeli interference and political pressure to replace Palestinian curricula with an Israeli one in occupied East Jerusalem, where full Israeli military and civil c...