I was struck when I saw the initial cut of this film at how the Director, Adam Hootnick, was able to be objective and empathetic about every subject it covered, avoiding caricatured stereotypes, and helping us understand the perspective and motivations of those involved during the Israeli withdrawal from Gaza. I highly recommend it for [...]
Related to an issue I had blogged about 6 weeks ago, Daniel Henninger writes in the WSJ that Obama’s real vulnerability is not his past connection to the Reverend Wright but his simplistic formulas on Iran: Iran’s Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, collector of centrifuges, makes Jeremiah Wright look like Little Bo Peep. Yet this Tuesday Barack Obama [...]
Malaka Samara and Shani Gershon just completed a OneVoice Tour to Southern California – one of six regional tours with young Israeli and Palestinian OneVoice activists completed over this last year by Laurel Rapp, International Education Program Coordinator. Neither of them had ever met someone from the "other side" before, so they did not just [...]
Nisreen Shaheen, the General Director of OneVoice Palestine, emailed us this update about work on the ground in Nablus: Yesterday[ed: email was mid-April] we were in Nablus, we met with the Governor and briefed him about OV work, we took 3 youth leaders from Nablus with us so that if they will need any help [...]
Hezbollah is training Iraqi militias in Iran, while we stand by.
I just got this very cool invitation from Laurel Rapp, who runs our International Education Program… You’re Invited: Global Town Hall Meeting (webcast live to your classroom!) Ever wonder what young Israelis and Palestinians growing up in conflict zones hope for, dream about, and are working to change? Ever wonder what both groups are doing [...]
In a very serious development, Hamas has passed an edict that any gathering of more than 20 citizens anywhere in Gaza must receive official written pre-approval. This includes any gathering, even if non-political. This will of course intimidate ordinary citizens and civic groups. The media has not yet reported on this worrisome impingement on the [...]
In sharp contrast to Carter, Israeli President Shimon Peres gave an important presentation to Foreign Journalists where he highlighted Iran’s proliferation threats to the world, and warned against appeasing Hamas. Peres also emphasized the imperative of developing new sources of energy as an environmental and geo-political imperative. Here is a good article on it: http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/980926.html [...]
Whatever your opinion on Jimmy Carter and his controversial trip to Syria to meet with President Assad and with Hamas leader Khaled Maashal, reading the report in Carter’s own words should be of value: http://cartercenter.org/news/trip_reports/middle_east_2008.html Trip Report by Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter to Israel, Palestine, Egypt, Syria, Saudi Arabia, and Jordan: April 13-22, 2008 [...]
Charlotte Allen writes in the Wall Street Journal about the creation of ASMEA, the Association for the Study of the Middle East and Africa, as an counterweight alternative to the highly-politicized MESA, the Middle East Studies Association. Towering scholar Bernard Lewis, described by Allen as the "eminence grise" of Islamic studies, is oddly enough the [...]