Daniel Lubetzky

Hamas has started oppressing Gazans to a deeper degree.  It is ferreting out freedom of assembly – even for innocuous civil society groups that are non-partisan and non-political. Here are emails from other groups of friends that circulated what they encountered:

The town hall meeting in [city name removed for protection] scheduled for today had to be canceled. [Name], the Director for the [host organization], the NGO which invited us to do the town hall meeting, informed me that Hamas Executive Force came into his office and asked him if he is planning on having any activities today, since he brought chairs & drinks and people are gathering around the office. [Name] told them that [Y] is scheduled to have a town hall meeting around 4:00pm. Hamas Executive Force told him to cancel the meeting; and  he had to sign a paper stating that in the future if he wants to schedule any activity he needs Hamas approval in advance. I will update you if any new thing happen.

The Associated Press reported that Zakariya Zubeidi, who used to be seen as a major terrorist organizer just two years ago, has been granted full amnesty by the Israeli internal security service, Shin Bet.

This is a major milestone to a significantly underreported transformation of Jenin from a hotbed of extremism into a pillar of progress, thanks to progress by Prime Minister Fayyad and President Abbas, with support from the US Military envoy.  It could be a critical turning point not just in the construction of a vibrant and secure Palestinian State, but of course also in the process of achieving a comprehensive Israeli-Arab agreement – if only more people were informed about these positive developments.

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Eytan Heller’s creative video to inspire people to visualize what could be in the Middle East in 2018 (part of our Imagine 2018 campaign) has been nominated as one of 24 finalists (out of several hundred contenders) for the Viral Video Awards. 

Check it out and vote for it.

http://www.viralvideoaward.com/

…rather than what people want to hear – hopefully not too late…

Olmert Says Israel Should Pull Out of West Bank

By ETHAN BRONNER, New York Times, September 30, 2008

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I just received an email from OneVoice Israel describing their Award Ceremony for the winners of the Imagine 2018 Essay Contest on the Israeli Side.  This event follows a similar one that OneVoice Palestine organized last month in parallel, in their case with the participation of the Chief Palestinian Islamic Justice and the Palestinian Minister of Education among others.

Here are excerpts of the Israeli letter:

Dear All,

OVI is happy to share with you the summery on the 2018 prizes ceremony and the launch of our new book "2018" (see cover attached).

The ceremony took place at the Tel Aviv cinematheque, during the international children film festival. We invited the 50 winners and their families, and 95% of them showed up.

The hall was packed with over than 250 people, while a few leaders left with no seat. The crowed was very heterogeneous and the kids and their families came from all across the country. We had kids from towns and villages, different refigures, boys and girls.

[I encourage you to read more by clicking below]

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When Sir Paul McCartney performed a historic concert in Israel earlier this week, he wore the OneVoice symbol on his lapel – as did every member of his band.

How did this come about?

When we learned that McCartney was headed to the Holy Land, our team in OneVoice Europe, led by Sayyeda Salam, took the initiative and reached out to him.  They relied on a few of our Board members and supporters to connect, but it was primarily gumption and determination that got them to him.

Apparently Sir Paul was the most down-to-earth and kindest person, and he loved learning about OneVoice’s mission of empowering ordinary Palestinian and Israeli citizens who reject extremism and absolutism and demand a two-state solution.  OVE arranged for Paul to meet with OneVoice activists in the region.

Anti-Israel groups campaigned aggressively to dissuade McCartney from visiting the Holy Land, and threatened to boycott him if he didn’t boycott Israel. Never mind that McCartney was bringing a message of peace and humanity and that he visited Palestine and respectfully shared a non-political humanitarian message for both Israelis and Palestinians.  “Anti” groups and “cultural boycott” organizations often harm their own people because they make no distinction of the substance of the message or the group involved – rejecting and attacking even those who would work for a two-state-solution.

When McCartney met with our OneVoice Israel activists, he empathized with the challenges they faced exactly a year ago, when extremist groups attacked the OneVoice Summit, a parallel effort of mainstream Palestinian nationalists and separately mainstream Israeli nationalists to mobilize tens of thousands to propel their political representatives to end the occupation and all forms of violence through a comprehensive two state agreement.

McCartney told our activists:

“My father told me that regular people don’t like wars and don’t want conflict. I’m not a politician – I just want to bring a message of peace. In every place I perform I see that people want the same thing.”

Gil Shamy, our Israeli Executive Director, gave him the OneVoice pin.

McCartney was so touched with the vision of our youth leaders that he decided to wear the pin during the concert – and give a pin to everyone in the band who did the same.

At at a press conference later on, McCartney still carried with him the message he and OneVoice had agreed on:

“My little bit is to try to bring people together through music … It seems to me that most of the people are quite moderate and would like a solution. They would like peace like most people in the world … They want the governments to decide quite quickly on two states, on two nations rather than this conflict. They want it to work so they can both be separate and peaceful.” (full story)

Here is a story by UPI.  One on E Entertainment’s website.  One in the UK’s Independent.  And one in the Wall Street Journal.  Pictures show Paul McCartney wearing the OV symbol, including on Ynet.

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24 Sep 2008

Iran built a danger to the entire world. Its quest for religious hegemony and regional dominance divides the Middle East and holds back chances for peace, while undermining human rights.

From his speech, quoting Rabbi Nachman of Breslav:

May it be thy will to remove war and bloodshed from the world and perpetuate the wonders and greatness of peace. All the inhabitants of the world shall recognize and know the truth: that we have not been placed on this earth to wage war and not for hatred or bloodshed. "

Address by the President of the State of Israel, Shimon Peres, at the United Nations General Assembly
24 September 2008

Mr. President,
Excellencies,
Ladies and Gentlemen,

Over 60 years have passed since the United Nations General Assembly voted on the historic resolution that would have put an end to the Arab-Israeli conflict. Resolution 181 called for the establishment of a Jewish and an Arab state. Its title was: "Plan of Partition with Economic Union". It envisioned two states for two peoples, each fulfilling a distinct national aspiration.

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Almost a year ago, I was so upset at unfair attacks being lobbied at my Palestinian partners at OneVoice. As they were gaining more and more prominence for their work to achieve a two state solution, those who opposed them within Palestine tried to discredit them based on a smear campaign revolving around questioning their patriotism.  I was filled with hatred.

I blogged back then how I realized this and fought it and literally forced myself to disavow that hatred and even work around my emotions to literally stop hating and actually start caring for those who I was most hateful towards.  OneVoice, the Movement, rose to do the same.

If I hadn’t gone through such a tough period, I would never have written these lines, and reading them would have made me gag for their cheesiness.  I don’t consider myself a "leftist" or a "pacifist", just an ordinary human being who recognizes that the betterment of humanity and of one’s ethnic, religious or national compatriots comes from understanding the shared humanity they have with their neighbors and rivals – getting both sides to recognize the essential human needs and rights of the other, and working together to achieve them.

But something happens when you get so close to the abyss, when your anger at a sense of injustice leads you to feel unrelenting hatred that you had not felt before, that you literally discover a new negative dimension you didn’t know you had – and do not like having.  And this scary discovery also affords you the possibility to fight that hatred back, to ensure you don’t become that which you are trying to fight, to grow from the challenge. 

When I meditated back then, I couldn’t put it into words – to be earnest, it certainly was not "love" – but I did achieve a sense of empathy with even these former "enemies" that had attacked my partners.

Earlier today I was struck when Frederic Brenner shared that "compassion is the only antidote to cynicism and cowardice."  Looking back, THIS was the feeling that gave me the strength to find myself again, to extricate myself from within so much hatred I had created, and to rescue the mission.  COMPASSION. 

Indeed, compassion is an antidote to cynicism – and to fear, and to hatred.  It is the antonym of hatred, more than love is.  You don’t need to "love" your "enemy." But if you have compassion towards all others, even those who offend you most – no, particularly towards those who offend you most – then you will be able to find the way.

Every person who cares about Israel or Palestine should read this letter.

Israel and Palestine Can Still Achieve Peace

By MAHMOUD ABBAS, Wall Street Journal

This month marks 15 painful years since the Arafat-Rabin handshake on the White House lawn. Palestinian children who started school when the Oslo

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It is not surprising that Israeli Jews prefer Israel’s integration with the West over the "Middle East."  But what is interesting is that even a majority of Israeli Arabs (or Palestinian citizens of Israel) prioritize raprochement with the West (Europe, US) over the Mideast. click here.

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