Daniel Lubetzky

Once again, youth leaders are leading the way to a brighter future. Stanford student initiative AMENDS brought 36 youth leaders from 17 different countries across the Middle East and North Africa to a summit at Stanford to learn from one another. Their talks, ranging in topics from peace-creating potential of micro-finance to the struggle to define and promote women’s rights, are now available online to engage a wider audience with their ideas and discussions.

Spotted by Daniel Lubetzky, by Julianna Storch

Hanin Ghaddar sets the scene for more change to come in the Middle East in his New York Time‘s piece. With Assad’s position growing ever precarious in Syria, Ghaddar asks if Hezbollah militants in Lebanon will be able to survive.

Spotted by Daniel Lubetzky, by Julianna Storch

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Alon Pinkas provides a hopeful take on the growing moderate majority within Israel and the American Jewish community for the Israel Policy Forum. With the OneVoice Movement, we will continue to amplify that moderate voice and leverage it towards creating a peaceful solution.

Spotted by Daniel Lubetzky, by Julianna Storch

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In light of the civil court case surrounding Rachel Corrie’s death this week, NGO Monitor released a statement holding the International Solidarity Movement (ISM) responsible for Corrie’s death. NGO Monitor calls attention to the often violent rhetoric and practice of the ISM with which Corrie was involved. If the ISM continues to encourage members to put themselves in dangerous and life-threatening situations, they will only cause further tragedy.

Spotted by Daniel Lubetzky, by Julianna Storch

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OneVoice Movement Israel spokesperson Tal Harris speaks to Israeli media in front of man-made ice wall, symbolising the freeze in peace negotiations.

OneVoice Movement Israel teamed up with J14 protesters in Tel Aviv to link calls for social justice and demands for ending the conflict for the first time. Together, they erected an ice wall to symbolize the “freeze” in peace talks that is becoming ever more costly for Israelis. See OneVoice Movement’s press release for the event after the jump.

Spotted by Daniel Lubetzky, by Julianna Storch

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Dr. Ephraim Sneh is always on target with his strategic analysis of the politics in play in the Middle East. This is no less the case in his latest piece about the state of affairs between Israel and the US vis-a-vis Iran for the Israel Policy Forum.

Spotted by Daniel Lubetzky, by Julianna Storch

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Fred Schaufeld recently shared a trio of articles by Noam Sheizaf and I just got done reading them. For the most part, they present a very valid if painful perspective analyzing the Israeli thought process.

The gist of the article below reminds me of Gil Shamy’s axiom that pursuing a comprehensive solution with the Palestinians is like going to the dentist for the Israelis: unless they are in pain, they rather hold off.

Some arguments are simplified and some supporting positions are incorrect in fact. For example, the second intifadah was not the impetus for Sharon’s evacuation from Gaza, but for Sharon’s election- it preceded Sharon’s reign, and the impetus for the evacuation was the drive by a significant segment of civil society in 2002-2004 for strategic progress.

And the reason the Arab Peace Initiative gained no traction is at least partly explained by its announcement in early 2002, at a time when our global conscience was still reeling from the 9/11 attacks and the Saudi overture was greeted with skepticism, as a PR stunt to deflect attention from Saudi support for Islamic fundamentalists.

But those are footnotes on a valid and sad thesis, that so long as Israelis are more comfortable with the status quo than with the uncertainties and risks of political change – even if that change holds the potential for far greater happiness for both Palestinians and Israelis – political representatives are unlikely to make bold moves.
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In the wake of the World Bank’s report claiming that the Palestinian economy remains too weak to support a state, Isabel Kershner highlighted the positive high-tech growth underway in her New York Times piece. Grants, training programs, and ambition are enabling Palestinians to develop an economy based on technology and communications. As a result, they can positively engage in business with Israelis in the role of producers as well as consumers. Let’s hope that the continued growth of the Palestinian economy leads to more cooperation between Palestinians and Israelis in business and elsewhere.

Spotted by Daniel Lubetzky, by Julianna Storch

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Nathan Thrall’s piece in the New York Times Sunday Review paints a foreboding picture of violence on the horizon in the Middle East with Israelis growing increasingly complacent and Palestinians becoming ever more frustrated with the status quo.

Spotted by Daniel Lubetzky, by Julianna Storch

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The Washington Post published an in-depth article on “Where Obama failed on forging peace in the Middle East”, which I strongly recommend.

My analysis somewhat dovetails the article’s facts and insights:

1) When he ran for President, in contrast to Hillary Clinton’s campaign juxtaposing against Republican evil, Obama was able to transcend deep partisanship and get people to feel there was a better way that was not “Us Vs Them” but “all of Us” for a better future; for some sad reason, Obama never realized he could translate that same vision to the Middle East; he saw it as a zero sum game – build credibility with the Arabs, at the expense of the Israelis; he declined to stop over Jerusalem after his Cairo speech; that was a huge mistake; he should have built credibility with the Arabs and reassured them about his vision AND also reassure Israelis and build credibility with them – employing the OneVoice language and framework;

2) President Obama made a major tactical mistake that turned into a strategic blunder of the highest geopolitical order: he demanded a freeze in the West Bank AND all of East Jerusalem, something that Netanyahu realized would not fly with the Israeli or Jewish constituencies, so Netanyahu made Jerusalem his battle cry and sought to create a wedge to undermine the US Administration’s position; he masterfully focused on Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, not as occupied land, even though West Jerusalem where the capital is located was of course never at stake; Netanyahu put the entire spotlight on JERUSALEM; everyone forgot about the West Bank and the settlements that are clearly a problem for the vast majority of Israelis also; American Jewish opinion and Israeli opinion swerved assertively against the “anti-Jerusalem” demands; and Obama eventually retrenched; to this day the damage persists because now President Abbas cannot be less Palestinian that the US President was, and can’t demand anything less than Obama did. This misstep still resonates today. I was just in Israel and Palestine for meetings with several high level officials and this issue came up multiple times.

a. Most important, no US President should ask for something publicly prior to being certain that he can get it. It is like lawyers not asking questions at trial that they don’t already know the answer to!

3) Obama’s efforts focused solely on top-down government actions, rather than appealing to the People, and partnering with the People. Everyone keeps blaming political representatives for their lack of leadership. But we are mum about the responsibilities of the millions of Israeli and Palestinian – and international – citizens who want to end the conflict. We need to find a way to vest the people with the power and responsibility that they have. And then to unleash their goodwill in a concrete and constructive way. At the PeaceWorks Foundation we are working precisely on such a plan. So stand by!