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Showing posts from September, 2018

Re: 9-21-1018 Preventing Palestine – How 40 Years of US-Led Peacemaking Have Failed the Palestinians – video from Foundation for Middle East Peace

Thanks for sharing!  On Wed, Sep 26, 2018 at 2:45 PM Judith Ferster < jferster@ncsu.edu > wrote: https://fmep.org/event/preventing-palestine-40-years-us-led-peacemaking-failed-palestinians/   Seth Anzika talks about his new book and its newly de-classified sources and the switch in US policy about settlements and Palestinian autonomy vs. sovereignty. Respondents/discussants are two veterans of U.S. Middle East policy, with experience both in and out of government: James Zogby, President of the Arab American Institute, and Lara Friedman, President of the Foundation for Middle East Peace.   Posted by Judith Ferster, AIME member

9-21-1018 Preventing Palestine – How 40 Years of US-Led Peacemaking Have Failed the Palestinians – video from Foundation for Middle East Peace

https://fmep.org/event/preventing-palestine-40-years-us-led-peacemaking-failed-palestinians/   Seth Anzika talks about his new book and its newly de-classified sources and the switch in US policy about settlements and Palestinian autonomy vs. sovereignty. Respondents/discussants are two veterans of U.S. Middle East policy, with experience both in and out of government: James Zogby, President of the Arab American Institute, and Lara Friedman, President of the Foundation for Middle East Peace.   Posted by Judith Ferster, AIME member

9-17-2018 Palestinians in Israel: How Oslo isolated us from the liberation struggle Abir Kopty Middle East Eye

https://www.middleeasteye.net/columns/shadow-oslo-palestinians-face-fractured-legacy-489998730   The Oslo Accords used the classic strategy of divide and conquer, with the goal of leaving Palestinians within Israel behind...   Posted by Judith Ferster, AIME member

9-20-2018 How Israel Undermined Washington and Stalled the Dream of Palestinian Statehood - Seth Anziska New York Times

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/09/20/opinion/israel-camp-david-anniversary-carter.html The Camp David Accords were signed 40 years ago. Newly declassified documents show how Israel got its way… The pursuit of a peace deal with Egypt had become a means to avoid peace with the Palestinians….While commemorating the key breakthrough leading to a peace agreement between Egypt and Israel, we might therefore consider Camp David's more troubling legacy: a crucial step in the perpetuation of Palestinian statelessness.   Posted by Judith Ferster, AIME member  

9-18-2018 IDF denies abuse allegations after arrested Palestinian suspect dies – Times of Israel

https://www.timesofisrael.com/palestinians-say-man-dies-while-in-israeli-custody-after-pre-dawn-arrest/ Israel rebuffs charges Bayt Rima was beaten, says he lost consciousness while in custody for unclear reasons; family accuses army of 'executing' him...   Posted by Judith Ferster, AIME member

9-18-2018 Preventing Palestine review: a fine history of Israel's negation of a nation

https://www.theguardian.com/books/2018/sep/18/preventing-palestine-review-israel-pyrrhic-victories - The Guardian This splendid book by a young American Jewish scholar is the product of an early emotional and intellectual transformation.Seth Anziska is fired by personal transformation and intellectual rigour – but never lapses into propaganda…Peventing Palestine's core argument is focused on the Camp David accords presided over by Jimmy Carter in 1978, which led the Israeli prime minister, Menachem Begin, to agree to relinquish the Sinai to Egypt, in exchange for Egyptian president Anwar al-Sadat's promise to end the state of war and recognize the state of Israel.   This was widely seen as both a great triumph for Carter and the single greatest leap toward peace in the Middle East since the end of the six-day war.   Anziska has a different view… Posted by Judith Ferster, AIME member

9-13-2018 Donald Trump Offers Palestinians $5 Billion in Aid to Negotiate With Israel, Report Reveals - Cristina Maza Newsweek

https://www.newsweek.com/donald-trump-offers-palestinians-5-billion-aid-negotiate-israel-report-1120364   President Donald Trump's administration offered the Palestinians $5 billion in aid if they negotiate with Israel, according to a report by the Israeli business paper Globes .The offer was an attempt by the president's son-in-law and adviser Jared Kushner and his special envoy Jason Greenblatt to bring Palestinians back to the negotiating table, according to the report. The two men are in charge of coming up with a Middle East peace plan that would find a solution to the longstanding dispute between Israelis and Palestinians.   Greenblatt, however, denied the claim. "Myth: Globes 'reporting' that POTUS is offering $5b to [Palestine] to return to the negotiating table," he tweeted. Posted by Judith Ferster, AIME member

9-13-2018 To the Editor from Steven Feldman in Response to Education Dept. Reopens Rutgers Case Charging Discrimination Against Jewish Students - Erica L. Green New York Times

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/09/13/opinion/letters/anti-semitism-rutgers.html?login=smartlock&auth=login-smartlock ...It is clear to me, as an American Jew, that speaking out against the mistreatment of Palestinian families is not anti-Semitic, just as it would not have been anti-white to speak out against the mistreatment of blacks in apartheid-era South Africa, or anti-Aryan to speak out against the killing of six million Jews during the Holocaust. I look forward to the day when we stand firmly on our Jewish and American values and seek peace and justice for all our brothers and sisters in Israel/Palestine, Jewish and non-Jewish alike, in completely equal measure. We clearly aren't there yet. Steven Feldman , Winston-Salem, N.C. Posted by Judith Ferster, AIME member

9-11-2018 US-PLO row jeopardizes consular services for Palestinians Bryant Harris Al-Monitor

https://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2018/09/us-plo-rift-consular-services-palestinians.html   … The Palestinians' 2015 accession to the ICC has rekindled opposition to the PLO from pro-Israel hard-liners on Capitol Hill. The chairwoman of the House's Middle East panel, Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, R-Fla., and Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, said in a June letter to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Attorney General Jeff Sessions that the Trump administration was violating the law by keeping the office open…   Posted by Judith Ferster, AIME member

9-12-2018 Pro-Israel Group Secretly Ran Misleading Facebook Ads To Target Palestinian-American Poet - Josh Nathan-Kazis and Justin Elliott/ProPublica Forward

https://forward.com/news/national/409591/pro-israel-group-secretly-ran-misleading-facebook-ads-to-target/?attribution=home-hero-item-text-1 In 2016, as Palestinian-American poet Remi Kanazi performed at college campuses around the United States, his appearances seemed to spark student protests.   Before his visit to John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York City, a page called "John Jay Students Against Hate" appeared on Facebook with Kanazi's face next to a uniformed cop, painting Kanazi as anti-police. When Kanazi crossed the country a few days later to visit San Jose State, a nearly-identical Facebook page popped up, this one called "SJSU Students Against Hate," with Kanazi's face superimposed over an image of military graves. Paid Facebook campaigns promoted both pages.   Despite their names, the Facebook campaigns were run by professional Washington D.C. political operatives who work for a group called the Israel on Campus Coalition

9-11-2018 Education Dept. Reopens Rutgers Case Charging Discrimination Against Jewish Students - Erica L. Green New York Times

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/09/11/us/politics/rutgers-jewish-education-civil-rights.html   The new head of civil rights at the Education Department has reopened a seven-year-old case brought by a Zionist group against Rutgers University, saying the Obama administration, in closing the case, ignored evidence that suggested the school allowed a hostile environment for Jewish students.   The move by Kenneth L. Marcus, the assistant secretary of education for civil rights and a longtime opponent of Palestinian rights causes, signaled a significant policy shift on civil rights enforcement — and injected federal authority in the contentious fights over Israel that have divided campuses across the country. It also put the weight of the federal government behind a definition of anti-Semitism that targets opponents of Zionism… "This is exactly what we feared would happen — he has a long track record of pressuring universities and government bodies to trample on fre

9-11-18 Palestinian Orchestra Finds Way Into Jerusalem To Perform Beethoven's 9th Symphony – Sandy Tolan NPR

https://www.npr.org/2018/09/11/646801504/palestinian-orchestra-finds-way-into-jerusalem-to-perform-beethovens-9th-symphon   Palestinian violist Ramzi Aburedwan used to throw stones at Israeli soldiers. Now he fights with music. He's built a music school for young Palestinians and he's finally realized a dream of playing Beethoven's 9th Symphony in Jerusalem.   Posted by Judith Ferster, AIME member

8-28-2018 Leak From Censored Israel Lobby Film Exposes Anti-Palestinian Operatives – The Real News

https://therealnews.com/stories/leak-from-censored-israel-lobby-film-exposes-anti-palestinian-operatives   The first leaked excerpt of Al Jazeera's censored film on the Israel Lobby in the U.S. claims to identify the funder behind the Canary Mission, an anonymous website devoted to smearing and silencing vocal supporters of Palestinian rights. We play a clip from the film and speak to Asa Winstanley of the Electronic Intifada, which exclusively revealed it Posted by Judith Ferster, AIME member

9-1-2018 Miscarriage of American Justice –Miko Peled on the Ralph Nader Radio Hour

https://ralphnaderradiohour.com/miscarriage-of-american-justice/ Ralph welcomes back Israeli activist, Miko Peled, who tells us about an incredible miscarriage of American justice chronicled in his book "Injustice: The Story of the Holy Land Foundation Five…"   "The things that were allowed to happen in this trial and that were un-Constitutional and unprecedented and unheard of… It's beyond belief."  Miko Peled, author of "Injustice: The Story of the Holy Land Foundation Five." Posted by Judith Ferster, AIME member  

9-4-2018 Is Boycotting Israel ‘Hate’? - Joseph Levine New York Times

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/09/04/opinion/is-boycotting-israel-hate.html?action=click&module=Opinion&pgtype=Homepage Opponents of the nonviolent Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement are involved in a dishonest branding campaign…At the federal level, a bill called the Israel Anti-Boycott Act would criminalize adherence to any boycott of Israel called for by an international agency (like the United Nations). The bill has garnered 57 Senate co-sponsors and 290 House co-sponsors , and may very well come up for a vote soon.   While these bills certainly constitute threats to free speech — (a view shared by the ACLU) — I am interested in a more subtle effect of a fairly widespread anti-B.D.S. strategy: co-opting rhetoric of the anti-Trump resistance, which opposes the growing influence of racist hate groups, in order to brand B.D.S. as a hate group itself… Posted by Judith Ferster, AIME member

8-23-2018 Palestine's first aquarium brings marine life to landlocked West Bank – Tessa Fox Middle East Eye

https://www.middleeasteye.net/in-depth/features/Palestine-s-first-aquarium-brings-marine-life-to-landlocked-west-bank-1187111898 The aquarium exhibits sea creatures from Argentina, the Amazon, Indonesia and South Africa. Schools of fish and creatures in every colour of the rainbow dart across the tanks or sit motionless. Some have travelled from as far as Southeast Asia to grace the Palestinian public, such as the Giant Gourami. Even the Iguana, a reptile native to Central and South America as well as the Caribbean, greets curious visitors with its solemn stare.  [Owner and manager Sofian] Qawasmeh believes everyone should be able to see these types of creatures… Posted by Judith Ferster, AIME member