I just got back from meeting with my friends at the Rebuilding Alliance who are walking the halls of Congress this week on behalf of a kindergarten in the West Bank village of Al Aqaba. They are asking members of Congress to press Israel to open and repave the now demolished Peace Road so that…
Leading Israeli politicians have claimed that Israel’s conduct has been vindicated, distorting Justice Goldstone’s op-ed so comprehensively that Amnesty International excoriated the Israeli spin as being “based on a deliberate misinterpretation of Justice Goldstone’s comments”. Meanwhile in Congress, every bill, letter, and press statement on the subject has parroted the very same narrative that Israel…
The following post also appeared on the Mondoweiss blog here. The International Crisis Group (ICG) issued a warning that the recent escalation of air strikes on Gaza and rocket attacks into Israel has created “the conditions for a rapid deterioration toward the kind of clash to which neither side aspires, for which both [Israel and…
Can the US Support UN Resolution on Israeli Settlements? Yes We Can! by Robert Naiman A key resolution on the Israel-Palestine conflict is now before the UN Security Council. Largely echoing stated US policy, the resolution embraces negotiations, endorses the creation of a Palestinian state, and demands an immediate halt to Israeli settlement construction in…
This week, an Israeli military court convicted Abdallah Abu Rahmah, whom progressive Zionists have called a "Palestinian Gandhi," of "incitement" and "organizing and participating in illegal demonstrations" for organizing protests against the confiscation of Palestinian land by the "Apartheid Wall" in the village of Bilin in the West Bank, following an eight month trial, during…
How do you know when someone is serious about pursuing a strategy of nonviolent resistance until victory for justice is achieved? When they refuse to turn back in the face of state violence. Damn the commandos. Full speed ahead. The Irish Times reports: The MV Rachel Corrie is ploughing ahead with its attempt to deliver…
Sometimes the Israeli occupation authorities and their allies try to project a "mad dog" image to their opponents: don’t bother trying to resist our power, because we are ready to crush you by any means necessary, and no-one who matters to us will care what means we use. But as the Israeli government reaction to…
Today is the seventh anniversary of the death of Rachel Corrie in Gaza by Israeli government bulldozer, and the anniversary this year comes at an unusually bad time in US-Israel relations – by which I mean, of course, that it comes at an unusually wonderful time in US-Israel relations, one of those rare times in…
I don’t know about all you commiepinkos, but I believe we should Support Our Troops in Afghanistan and Iraq. General Petraeus, Admiral Mullen, and Vice-President Biden say that Israel’s actions toward the Palestinians are putting our troops in Afghanistan and Iraq in danger. That’s why, to Support Our Troops, the U.S. government must effectively pressure…
On foreign policy, while the President said some good things, he missed key opportunities to say better things. In particular, he missed opportunities to promote reconciliation as an essential way of ending our wars and promoting peace. In speaking about U.S. domestic politics, the President is eloquent in his efforts to promote reconciliation, but he…