On Neutral Ground

Reflections

2009-09-20T01:15:00.000-07:00

A lady I know, recently asked me about the blog; if we were still writing it and how it was going. As we talked, I began to reflect on what this experience has brought me. I told her that this blog has been one of the best things I've ever done. There's been times when it's been a real challenge - the subject matter can be so provocative. I remember when I went to UCI and hearing Amir-Abdel Malik-Ali really shook me up - he scared the crap out of me, honestly. But I persisted and wrote about my experience anyway. I wrote that post with tears streaming down my face while cursing his name. And as I wrote, I became more empowered, and then Malik-Ali became more like the little man behind the curtain in the Wizard of Oz.

This blog has made me think about things I'd never put much thought into before, like: what is my relationship with Israel? what does Israel mean to me? how do different people define zionism? how is zionism used and misused on both sides? what does zionism mean to me? am I a zionist? Some of these I've answered in past posts but some I still have to get to. I've learned how to hear the other side and try my best to consider it. I don't have to agree and I can challenge arguments when I feel it's warranted. I have also realized that it's not my purpose, nor my duty, to try and convince Halla of anything. We're both thinking women. Yet we can push and pull each other with some thought provoking discussions. Most importantly, I am no longer afraid. No longer afraid to discuss this subject matter... and maybe this sounds overconfident, but... feeling a bit more educated makes me not have fear for Israel anymore, nor for the U.S., nor for Palestine.

Shana Tova

2009-09-18T17:01:00.001-07:00

Happy Rosh Hashanah Laura and all our jewish friends

East Med Sea Peace: drawing borders..

2009-08-22T22:35:00.000-07:00

East Med Sea Peace: drawing borders..
I hate to take away from the Ramadan greetings below, but thought this was a good read.

Ramadan Kareem

2009-08-21T13:11:00.000-07:00

رمضان كريم

New Diplomacy: Usama and Avihu, looking for the Chinese taxi driver

2009-08-05T22:35:00.000-07:00

Back in April, I went to UCI to see The Olive Tree Initiative presentation called "The Need for New Diplomacy in the Middle East" a presentation and open discussion with Palestinian and Israeli speakers from Jerusalem and Bethlehem. I've said it before, how impressed I am to see the work these UCI students are doing, engaging in this difficult yet peaceful dialogue, listening to different views and trying to be objective by going beyond the media and the activist groups. They're doing exactly what I am trying to do, what I hope to do, but they've actually been to Israel and the West Bank and will continue to make trips there (the OTI students raised the money themselves to go on the trip so that they could go as independents - they are not monetarily sponsored by UC or any one organization). At this presentation, we heard from Shannon Shibata and Avihu Cohen from the Center for New Diplomacy in Jerusalem and Usama Al Zoughbi from Wi'am - the Palestinian Conflict Resolution Center in Bethlehem. Avihu's father was killed by terrorists and started a group within the Center for victims and their families, Usama's main focus in Wi'am is to facilitate meetings/interactions between foreigners and locals rather than them just going to the tourist stops.

It was a Saturday evening in the Crystal Cove auditorium and, unfortunately, there were a lot less people there then there were back in the Fall. On the up side, I was able to sit a lot closer this time and recognized many of the students and a few other people there. Shannon and Usama started with their introductions and Shannon explained that Avihu, who is shomer Shabbat, could not speak for the first 10 minutes or so because he could not use the microphone until the Sabbath was officially over. It's interesting to note that Avihu and Usama met because of these UCI students. During their trip last fall, the students spent Shabbat eve. at Avihu's home in East J'lem and the next day met with Usama at his home in Bethlehem in the West Bank. From the top of Usama's building, the students could see the building of Avihu's home where they just were the night before (at the press conference last fall, some of the students talked about how intimate the space is there with all of the towns so close together - something we are not used to here - and keep in mind that although they live almost a stone throw away, Avihu and Usama are separated by a barrier). Upon returning to Israel, the students told Avihu of their visit to Usama's, which prompted Avihu to ask for Usama's phone number, "I want to talk to him," he said. Because the students were able to pass easily back and forth between W. Bank and Israel, in this way, they became ambassadors. So, this was the beginning of Avihu and Usama's unlikely friendship.

Avihu lives in a part of town, he says, that some consider to be a "settlement" and others consider it "just a neighborhood in East J'lem". Avihu and Usama don't agree on politics but they do agree that they are both tired of living with this conflict. A message that they wanted to strongly convey; that we should realize that the people on both sides, although they disagree on politics, have to live with this (conflict) on a day-to-day basis and they are tired of it. Shannon further emphasized, "Don't judge" ...unless you actually go there and listen to the people - the everyday people on both sides that live and work there - not the world leaders. She scoffed at Nicolas Sarkozy calling him "clueless" in reference to his trip to the region back in January and his (lack of) knowledge regarding the smuggling problem with the tunnels that run between the Gaza and Israel border. She further gave her opinion that we give way too much credit to world leaders who, in reality, know very little of what goes on in the lives of everyday people. In response to a question from the audience regarding financial aid given by the U.S. and other countries, Usama chagrined - the money doesn't get to the people that need it, rather, it gets tied up by the Israeli government. He also had to fend off some perceived stereotyping when asked about Palestinian incitement of violence and suicide bombers. "We're all terrorists," he replied in a calm, yet sarcastic tone.

In watching and listening to Avihu & Usama, I could tell they were friends - in the way they shared stories about their families and of the time they've spent together on their journey here like the day Avihu & Usama decided to go shopping at our local Toys R' Us store in Huntington Beach. They both wanted to buy gifts to bring home to their children so they ventured out in their rental car not exactly knowing how to get there. They asked a local for help with directions but they still got lost. Then they asked another, again, lost. Then they asked a Chinese taxi driver who "looked like he just got here a week ago", but his directions to Toys R' Us were right on and so, they found their way. Avihu said it's like that - we want peace but we don't know how to get there and we keep hitting dead ends - so we need to find someone like that, a Chinese taxi driver, someone that knows the way. When the issues surrounding the conflict arose, there was some tension between them. One audience member asked Avihu about the roads that he travels on in East J'lem, and if they were like those isolated highways we hear about - the ones that are meant only for Israelis and cut through Palestinian land and villages. Avihu replied that, actually, the road that he travels on to work everyday is the same one that Usama travels on - "Isn't that right?" he turned to Usama for confirmation. Usama affirmed, "Yes" and then went on with his arms folded and just a tinge of spite in his tone , "It's the same road that I used to travel on to my grandfather's farm." Avihu quickly replied, "Yes, it's the same road that my father was murdered by terrorists" - (Avihu's father was raised in the West Bank). Then they argued a bit about checkpoints and security... Question: they live divided by the separation barrier yet they can travel on the same road - how does that work??? I wish I would have thought to ask this when I was there.

Looking back on my notes from that evening, here's a few more thoughts that the speakers shared:

Shannon said... there are so many advocate groups that export the conflict. Don't take what your professor or the media say as gospel and don't think that you know just because you watch CNN everyday. As a point she said there are talks with Hamas currently happening in Amman and England that are not publicized - 3rd party talks. This generation, Generation X - the generation of mass information - is teaching the last generation. and in a nod to the students she noted that the Geneva Convention (U.N.) is interested in the Olive Tree Initiative.

Usama said... the difficulties in the West Bank stem from a lack of resources: water, power, etc., lack of movement - there are 620 checkpoints in WB, instability in general, and lack of land due to settlements. Yet, the people still have hope and are peaceful. The money is not going to the right places. There is a need to empower hospitals, schools, infrastructure. There is a non-violent movement in Palestine.

Avihu said... Palestinians are victimized by many nations, not just Israel. There are a lot of movements and industries that pump money (into the region) and fuel the conflict. Don't just send money for food - it's like giving fishes and not teaching to fish. Each one of us is a hub - don't close your eyes even if the solution is far away. There are hard core rabbis & islamic clerics alike that are meeting and talking.

A couple of the most memorable moments of the evening came during the q&a session:

One of these was a lady who directed her question to Usama - although it really wasn't a question. I hate to guess age, but I'd say she was probably in her 60's or 70's. She said that she and her family were from "a little village in a place I won't name". As she continued to describe her story, I concluded that her place of origin must have been what was then known as Transjordan (Jordan) or Palestine (West Bank), probably the latter. Let me tell you, she was one pissed-off mama. She didn't shout or raise her voice at all - she held her composure and spoke calmly and slowly but it was that kind of seething anger you could feel from deep within. She told of when she was a little girl - a family friend and neighbor, an Arab, came to their house in the middle of the night. He told them that they must leave now, if they stayed till morning they would all surely be dead. And so they fled, leaving everything behind. "I hear you speak of 'justice' " she said to Usama, "how quickly we forget history... take care of the corruption in the Palestinian Authority before you speak to me about 'justice' ".

The other came from Avihu, when Ruth Shapin of the Cousins Club asked him what he thought of the proposed 1-state solution. "The problem is" he began, "Everyone is talking about 1 state or 2 states when actually what we have is 3 states. I don't know what the solution is." He went on in reference to the 3rd state (Gaza), "Hamas doesn't recognize Israel. They hold this election and Hamas was democratically elected then the International community says no, they don't like it. And in Israel there is no Israeli party that is willing to re-draw lines, only security is what they think about - security comes first. So I really don't know what the solution is." His answer reflected my own ambivalence. I used to think that, although undesirable, if dividing Jerusalem is what is necessary to achieve 2-states living side by side in peace, then that is what must be done. But something that one of the OTI students said at the press conference last Fall made me think again; when she described her visit to the J'lem and how she realized that dividing the city would separate people from their church or place of worship, from their workplaces and employees, and from their families and friends. J'lemites, whether Jewish or otherwise, are interdependent. I know that dividing cities is never good, but how ignorant and arrogant it was of me to be so willing to take that idea at face value. 2-state solution, 1-state solution, even a 3-state solution - everybody's got a solution but I am not so sure of any of them anymore. Yet, my ambivalence does not leave me hopeless. I see the world getting a lot smaller and more familiar and people are blogging, twittering, talking in ways they never did before. If a vigorous and sustained peace movement on both sides could at least hold down the violence and militarism to a minimum, over a period of time - even if there were some breakdowns along the way - restrictions could be eased, commerce could flourish, relations could normalize, trust could be built. Maybe then conflict would just fizzle out and the best political solution would become clear. I guess I'm seeing peace as a means to a possible political end, and not the other way around.

It's just wrong!!

2009-08-02T17:10:00.000-07:00

50 Palestinians evicted from their Jerusalem homes

By BEN HUBBARD, Associated Press Writer Ben Hubbard, Associated Press Writer Sun Aug 2, 2:31 pm ET

JERUSALEM – Israeli police evicted two Palestinian families in east Jerusalem on Sunday, then allowed Jewish settlers to move into their homes, drawing criticism from Palestinians, the United Nations and the State Department.
Police arrived before dawn and cordoned off part of the Arab neighborhood of Sheikh Jarrah before forcibly removing more than 50 people, said Chris Gunness, spokesman for the U.N. agency in charge of Palestinian refugees.
U.N. staff later saw vehicles bringing Jewish settlers to move into the homes, he said.
Israeli police cited a ruling by the country's Supreme Court that the houses belonged to Jews and that the Arab families had been living there illegally.
Gunness said the families had lived in the homes for more than 50 years.
The status of east Jerusalem is one of the most explosive issues in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Israel took control of east Jerusalem in the 1967 Mideast war and annexed it, a move not recognized by any other country. Since then, Israel has to boosted the Jewish presence there, building neighborhoods where about 180,000 Jews live. The Palestinians want east Jerusalem as the capital of their hoped-for state.
Organizations linked to the Jewish West Bank settlement movement also have bought properties inside Palestinian neighborhoods in Jerusalem and moved Israelis in.
About 270,000 Palestinians live in east Jerusalem, or 35 percent of the city's total population of 760,000.
The international community has pressured Israel to refrain from evicting Palestinians and building new homes for Jews in east Jerusalem, saying such moves hamper peacemaking efforts.
State Department spokeswoman Megan Mattson said such actions in east Jerusalem constitute violations of Israel's obligations under U.S.-backed "road map" peace plan.
"Unilateral actions taken by either party cannot prejudge the outcome of negotiations and will not be recognized by the international community," she said in a statement.
Robert Serry, the U.N. Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process, called Sunday's evictions "totally unacceptable."
"These actions heighten tensions and undermine international efforts to create conditions for fruitful negotiations to achieve peace," he said in a statement.
Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat also condemned the move.
"While Israeli authorities have promised the American administration that home demolitions, home evictions and other provocations against Palestinian Jerusalemites would be stopped, what we've seen on the ground is completely the opposite," he said in a statement.
Khawla Hanoun, 35, who lived in one of the homes, said police ordered her and 16 family members to leave the house before dawn and forced them out at gunpoint when they refused.
"Now our future is in the streets," she said. "We will remain steadfast until we return home. By any method, we must go back home."

German women break silence

2009-07-20T09:09:00.001-07:00

NPR- German women break silence.wpl

This got to me. I heard this story on NPR's All Things Considered while driving home on Friday about the atrocities suffered by many young German (non-Jewish) women in the days and months during the liberation of WWII. It's a disturbing story of the rape of these women at the hands of the Allied and (mostly) Soviet forces (corresponding article is here). It's a part of the WWII story I'd never heard before, although, it shouldn't surprise me - women and children are always the biggest victims of war, and the pain of war reverberates for generations. I'm, at least, glad that these women are now allowed to speak and have the courage to do so. So much healing that needs to be done.

Cheesecake !!

2009-07-05T22:26:00.000-07:00

I've been threatening to make cheesecake for a while now. Yes, I do believe "threatening" is the appropriate term here; any recipient of this cheesecake should be forewarned because the first bite will keep them coming back for more and the last bite will render them deliriously satisfied. I was supposed to make this for Shavuot about a month ago and give one to Halla, but - didn't. Sooooo, I finally decided to make one for our 4th of July BBQ at my in-laws' house. (Happy belated 4th of July, by the way). My plan was to decorate it like a flag using cherries for the stripes and blueberries for the stars but it didn't come out right. I bought frozen cherries so I wouldn't have to bother with pitting the fresh ones, and frozen blueberries too. But the frozen fruit was so dark and mushy that it would have made a dreary looking flag. I ended up tossing the cherries and blueberries together in a bowl and serving them on the side for people to spoon on top if they wanted. The picture above is the one I made last year on Shavuot - it has fresh blackberries on top. My recipe originally came from The Book of Jewish Food by Caudia Roden, but I have tweaked it and fine-tuned it a bit to make it my own. It's a fairly traditional recipe and not the easiest, so I don't make it that often, but it's well worth the effort for special occasions. By the way, Halla tells me she has an "easy" cheesecake recipe - I think she's treading on MY territory now - he he he.

For the shortbread crust:
1 1/2 cups (200 g) flour
pinch of salt
1/3 cup (75 g) sugar
4 oz (100 g) butter, cut into pieces
1 medium egg, lightly beaten

For the filling:
1 lb (500 g) cream cheese
2/3 cup (150 ml) sour cream
5 eggs, separated
7/8 cup superfine sugar (Baker's sugar)
zest of 1 lemon
juice of 1/2 lemon
1/2 tsp. vanilla

For the topping:
1 1/2 cups sour cream
1/4 cup superfine sugar (Baker's sugar)

For the shortbread crust, mix the flour, salt, and sugar in a bowl and rub the butter in with your hands. Mix in the egg and work very briefly until bound into a soft dough. Wrap in plastic wrap and leave for 1/2 hour.
Line a greased 10 1/2" (26 cm) spring-form pan with the pastry by pressing it all over the bottom and a little up the sides with your hand (it is difficult to roll out). Bake it blind in a preheated 350 degree F (180 degree C) for 20 minutes. Let it cool before you cover it with the filling, or it will break up.
For the filling, mix the cream cheese with the rest of the filling ingredients except the egg whites and beat until smooth. Use a food processor for this step, it's difficult to get it smooth using an electric beater, the food processor works much better. Then beat the egg whites to stiff snowy peaks and fold into the cheese mixture. Pour into the pan over the shortbread crust. Bake in a preheated 300 degree F (150 degree C) oven for 1 hour. I recommend, at this time, that you order everyone (spouse, children, pets, etc) out of the kitchen for the next 2 hours to prevent the cake from falling. When the 1 hour is up, tip-toe back into the kitchen and turn the oven off but do NOT open the oven door! Leave the cake in the oven with the door shut for 1/2 hour. Then take the cake out to finish cooling on a wire rack. Combine the sour cream and sugar together and pour over the top of the cake right when you take it out of the oven. Once fully cooled, keep refrigerated. Before serving you can top with fruit, jam, or fruit pie filling if you like, but it's good without too.

Garden update

2009-06-28T13:11:00.000-07:00

Have been so excited to watch these plants grow from seed especially the corn, think it's about 8 feet. It's so cool to finally see some corn growing.

Happy Birthday Laura

2009-06-26T08:10:00.000-07:00

Laura

With all the news in the world, didn't want this day to pass without wishing you a very ....... Happy Birthday!

R.I.P.

2009-06-25T22:12:00.000-07:00

Heal the world by Michael Jackson

Thanks Laura that was a nice tribute for two iconic stars that will not be forgotten.

Goodbye Farrah & Michael - 2 childhood icons

2009-06-25T18:04:00.000-07:00

The loss of Farrah Fawcett and Michael Jackson on the same day - I have to admit, I'm bummed. I knew Farrah had been battling cancer and her struggle reminded me of my mother's... and the fact that she was close in age to my mother (Farrah 62, and my mom 66). Like so many of my generation, Charlie's Angels was one of my favorite shows when I was a girl. Actually, Cheryl Ladd, the actress that took over Farrah's role when she left the show, was my favorite - I wore my hair like her, had her poster on my wall and wanted to be just like her. But Farrah was the icon that started it all.

And then the shocker about Michael Jackson's sudden death. I wasn't even aware that he was back in L.A. and when I heard he was taken to UCLA Medical Center this afternoon, again, it reminded me of the several trips I've made to UCLA in recent years when my mom was there for her surgeries. No matter what you think of Michael, he was a one-of-a-kind talent. I remember dance camp, summer of 1984, doing a routine to The Jacksons' song "Torture". Just 2 weeks ago, I gave away a huge stack of records that belonged to my mom including Thriller and a couple other Jackson classics to Pepperland, a local used record shop. My husband called me at work this afternoon and told me that he was watching the news and they were reporting from Pepperland and holding up some Jackson records - I wonder if they were my mom's ;-) By the way, if you buy any used disco records from Pepperland and find some yellow lined paper inside with hand-written dance choreography notes, they were probably my mom's. I left them in there - just seemed that they should go with the music that she wrote them for. So many memories.

Yes, I know... I haven't been writing. Been taking things slow and I have family coming into town this weekend so I'll be busy. Will start writing again soon.

"WHAT A PIG"

2009-06-11T10:11:00.000-07:00

This is domestic terrorism which also includes the killing of Doctor George Tiller

Getting going again

2009-06-07T23:36:00.000-07:00

I made it through my finals in May and since then have been doing a lot of relaxing and family stuff, and I just started some bereavement counseling. To be honest, I've been depressed and just haven't felt like writing. After mom died, I had to keep my head together to finish school but I had a feeling it would hit me when things slowed down. And it has. But, it's time to give myself a kick in the rear and get going again.

So where do I begin? In May, I did manage to take some breaks from my schoolwork, which included catching The Colbert Report on May 7th. Have I mentioned how much I love Stephen Colbert? I love Stephen Colbert. He could bring peace to the middle east... he just chooses not to talk about it. From Joe Biden's earmarks esophogus to Rahm's Emanu-hole, and on the National Day of Prayer clap your hands and say Yahweh with Stephen's prayer-phernalia and the danciples. If you missed it, enjoy! I love Stephen Colbert... yeah, I already said that.

The Colbert Report

Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c

Sean Hannity's Liberty Tree

colbertnation.com

Colbert Report Full Episodes

Political Humor

Keyboard Cat

The Colbert Report

Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c

Clasp Your Hands Say Yahweh

colbertnation.com

Colbert Report Full Episodes

Political Humor

Keyboard Cat

P.S. I also went to the Olive Tree Student Initiative at UCI to hear the visitors from Israel and Palestine. Will fill you in on that later.

Garden 2009

2009-05-21T18:08:00.000-07:00

I wanted to share a project that hubby & I have been working on before we head out to Washington DC on memorial day. Yes I tried to get a white house tour but you have to book 3-6 months in advance not 2 months but we did get a capital tour booked thru our congresswoman and of course all the other sites are available for free.

Anyway, We saw a 60 minute piece about victory gardens a few months ago and it got us thinking (before Michelle Obama did) and it's been fun watching the growth process. We have corn, beans (yellow & green), yellow squash, zucchini, tomatoes (big & cherry) broccoli and bell peppers (red & green.

There is something about seeing something grow from seed and florish that makes me feel in touch with my arabic roots an am channeling my grandparents and ancestors :)

THIS SATURDAY - Meet Israeli and Palestinian visitors at UCI

2009-04-22T14:41:00.001-07:00

The Olive Tree Student Initiative was created by a group of students at UCI. Last year, these students - a group consisting of Jews, Muslims, Christians, Arabs, and others - traveled together to Israel and the West Bank, meeting with local leaders in the region. They made it clear that the purpose of that trip was not for reconciliation, but rather, to try and be as objective as possible and gain more on-the-ground insight instead of just relying on what we hear from the media. Upon their return, the students held a press conference called "Beyond Stereotypes" where they shared thier new found insights and vowed to continue this endeavor and pursue peaceful dialogue. I was at that press conference and have to say that I was really impressed with what these students are doing. I never did write about it, but better yet, you can watch it below. Now, the Olive Tree Initiative students are presenting "The Need for New Diplomacy in the Middle East" - a presentation and open discussion with Palestinian and Israeli speakers from Jerusalem and Bethlehem. If you're in the area, consider attending - it's this Saturday evening at UCI. The title above will link you to their flyer.

AIPAC at it's best

2009-04-20T22:53:00.000-07:00

Can't judge a book by it's cover

2009-04-16T20:13:00.000-07:00

47 Year old Susan Boyle wows the judges with her performance in the auditions for Britains Got Talent, singing I dreamed a dream from Les Miserables.

Obama worst president in history?

2009-04-16T13:11:00.000-07:00

According to the Somali pirates......Yes!

It's hard to read but each president since 1900 has had zero death rates for pirates until Obama with a total of 3...lol

George Galloway

2009-04-13T18:56:00.000-07:00

Went to see and hear George Galloway speak as part of his multi-city speaking tour and was really impressed by him, what a great speaker he is! Personable, funny, engaging and a great human being, just my personal opinion. For anyone out there that has not heard of George Galloway, he is a former United Kingdom Parliamentarian and has been a major supporter of the Palestinian people for decades. You can go to youtube and download allot of his interviews but his famous one is during the last Lebanese war with Israel and his interview here with a British newscaster where he basically scewered the poor lady and pointed out her ignorance but he was right on.

He spoke about a convoy that he put together of about 120 vehicles full of aid and supplies to take to Gaza called Viva Palestina and by the time they reached the Rafah crossing the number doubled thanks to Libya. This convoy started the U.K and went thru allot of countries before it reached the Rafah crossing. He had announced at our event that he is forming a Viva Palestina USA to form 500 vehicles full of aid and supplies to send to Gaza from the USA to show them that their are people in the US that care about them. The only thing Most of the Palestinians usually see that are made in the USA are the missiles and ammunition that are used to kill or wound them.

Ron Kovic was there and will be co-sponsoring the USA convoy to leave on the 4th of July. Ron Kovic is the Vietnam hero that wrote an autobiographical book about his experiences called born on the on the 4th of July and was made into a movie played by Tom Cruise. Ron Kovic was in attendance at this event as well.

Couldn't find the exact one that I heard but this one is pretty much the same except for the announcement of the formation of Viva Palestina USA which you will find on their website. Sorry but it's in 6 parts ....

Happy Easter

2009-04-11T23:34:00.000-07:00

!المسيح قام! حقا قام

(al-Masīh qām! Haqqan qām!)

Christ is Risen, he is truly Risen

For the last few days I have been busy making easter pastries and dying eggs but just wanted to wish everyone a Happy Easter and Happy Passover.

For the recipes of the pastries (Kaek and Maamoul) here is a link from last years post

Encounter Point - The Documentary

2009-04-10T22:37:00.001-07:00

Lirun provided this youtube link in the comments section of his latest post. It's a bit lengthy (30 min. +/-) but really important. In this interview with Nahanni Rous, the producer of Encounter Point, she talks about the many peace activists within Israel & Palestine - people grappling with the conflict and yet finding ways to rise above and work towards peace in many different ways - a grassroots movement, really, but one which lacks traction. I was especially moved by her motivation to get people here in the U.S. involved in the dialogue and in engaging our government - realizing the importance of the U.S. government's role in this peace effort. I can tell you from my own experience that this dialogue is tough, most people I know find the subject too provocative and don't want to touch this blog with a 10-foot pole. Too many times, I feel like I'm in a lonely sea out here (except for my fellow bloggers from across the globe), so I appreciated hearing Rous talk about the fact that there are a lot of us out there that are working and dialoguing for peace even if we don't agree politically. But too often we just don't realize it because the voices we hear from Main Street and the mainstream media only reflect opposing (often hostile) political views and/or extremists. On the Encounter Point website (use link above), I see you can order a copy of the documentary.

Passover Pup

2009-04-10T00:51:00.000-07:00

Another puff piece ;-) No heavy politics yet - but don't worry, more to come.

Our dog loves bread. Any kind of bread, including... matzo!

This year in the White House!

2009-04-09T13:05:00.000-07:00

The first ever Passover seder in the White House hosted by an American President. Wow! We've come a long way, baby. But where is Rahm?

A very American, unconventional, nontraditional Happy Passover!

2009-04-07T22:23:00.000-07:00

Getting ready for Passover and making a few last minute decisions. I have my menus all planned out for the next 8 days but can't decide which Haggadah to use (the book that walks us through and explains the ritual Seder and tells the story of the exodus). I've collected a few over the years - I've been using the one in the middle Why on this Night? It's a good one if you have children, but I'm thinking that it might be a little too "young" now for my 12-yr. old. The one on the right is pretty straight forward (boring), easy to use and I've used it before - maybe. I'm tempted to try the one on the left - I got it a couple of years ago but it's just been a coffee table conversation piece - beautifully illustrated, I might give it a go. I'm sure my life would be simpler if I just bought a set of standard haggadot like everyone else does. Ah, but that would be too easy. Instead, every year, I try to do something creative and meaningful by piecing together my own Seder by selecting one haggadah and then adding in or taking out different readings or poems - then I run copies so everyone at the table can have one. It's a work in progress and I think I drive myself nuts in the process. If you can't tell, I'm not a conventional gal and I have a very American unconventional family. My husband is from an interfaith marriage, a jewish father and a christian mother, and he could care less about observing much of anything but if there's good food involved, he's game. I'm the one that tries to keep up traditions and this year we'll be having a very nontraditional 4th night Seder on Saturday. Explanation: I can't take off of work and my sister just started a new job this week, so Saturday it is!

Mom

2009-04-06T21:37:00.000-07:00

Halla, thank you for being there and checking in on me. As you know, my stepdad thought your poem was beautiful and so he printed it out and displayed it at the memorial reception at their home. Thank you to everyone who took the time to write your kind words of support. My mother was my best friend and role model, and I miss her dearly, but we knew this was coming. After 3 years and 9 mos. of battling cancer, at least I can say her enduring battle is over. My mother was not a practicing jew, yet she was always proud of being jewish and I know she would want that part of her remembered. The only observances she kept were lighting yartzeit candles for grandma and grandpa, and celebrating chanukah... because chanukah is fun :-) Yet culturally, politically, and even spiritually, I saw her as very jewish. So in memory of Esther bat Chaim v' Rivka z'l ~ may her memory be for blessing. I wrote this and read it at her memorial service.

For Mom

Those of us that knew Mom, know that she had an unquenchable thirst for life. As a little girl, she would play for hours - all day - but when grandma and grandpa would call her in, she would protest with, "But I haven't played yet!"

And Mom was filled with song. Growing up, I remember how she would turn anything - practically everything - into a song. And, if she wasn't creating a song out of something we said, she was usually buzzing around the house humming or singing a few bars from one of her favorite musicals. I remember them all: South Pacific, Guys n' Dolls, Oklahoma, Finian's Rainbow, West Side Story, Fiddler on the Roof, Mame, Funny Girl, and Dr. Zhivago.

She loved being a mother, which was evident in the way she created a childhood wonderland-of-sorts for us with arts and crafts, stories, outings, and just making the simplest things into something special. Even after we were grown she would often send care packages filled with trinkets, little games and candy to us - and of course to her grandchildren.

Mom also had a love for dance and was trained in classical ballet as well as tap and jazz with Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers movies as her inspiration. In her early professional career she performed in local theatre - mostly musical comedy - she also had her own jazz dance troupe and she was a belly dancer performing weekends at local restaurants and at private parties.

Mom's Jewish name was Esther and like her biblical counterpart, Queen Esther of ancient Persia, mom was the fairest in all the land. A radiant beauty with big green eyes and long wavy light brown hair. She's been and will always be my nurturing mother, confidante, mentor, role model, and my best friend.

She will always be a blessing to all who knew her.

My mom had a gift for understanding people and what it means to truly be human. She served as a practitioner for the Church of Religious Science and when I entered my teenage years, she went back to school to study psychology. With steady determination, she plugged away year after year achieving her bachelors degree in psychology and then, after 10 years as a part-time student, a master of science degree in counseling. She then went on to become a licensed marriage & family therapist.

Some of her greatest gifts that she's given us are her words of wisdom:

On self-worth, she would tell us "Each and every one of us has a gift to give this world. Our goal is to realize that gift."

On fitness, "Exercise, exercise, exercise!" and "You must learn to prioritize your calories... dessert gets first priority."

and for times of struggle she would say "We already have all the answers, we just have to get quiet so we can hear them." and "Let go and know that the Universe us unfolding just as it should."

When faced with this illness, she insisted to her doctors and to all of us that we keep a positive attitude. A strong believer in the power of the mind, this is where she drew her strength. As she would say, "Don't gimme no bad news!" When I spoke to her on Tuesday, the day before she passed, we chatted for a bit, said our I-love-you's and then she said that she had to let me go because she had to get ready for a telephone session with one of her clients. Amazing. She cared for her clients as much as they cared for her, and so she continued working until her last day.

Even toward the end when she was weak and had endured much suffering - she knew very well the fragility of her condition - and yet, she continued to plug away day after day with a positive attitude and her typical fighting spirit. In this way she affirmed life. Even in death, her memory continues to affirm life. A true testament to her undying beauty and grace. Love you always, mom.

In memory

2009-03-25T19:40:00.000-07:00

I would like to offer my deep condolences to Laura and her family on the loss of her mother after a long illness. Although I have never met her, Laura had spoken so much about the love that she shared with her mother and what a special person she was.
She will be greatly missed by her family....

May God rest her soul...

in hebrew:
sharing your (deep) sorrow/mourning = (משתתפים בצערכם/אבלכם (הכבד
(Hope that's correct)

Found this poem that seemed to fit, I hope it helps... Laura.

God looked around his Garden and found an empty place.

He then looked down upon his earth and saw your loving face.

He put his arms around you and lifted you to rest.

His Garden must be beautiful, he always takes the best.

He knew that you were suffering, he knew you were in pain.

And knew that you would never get well on earth again.

He saw your path was difficult, he closed you tired eyes,

He whispered to you "Peace be Thine" and gave you wings to fly.

When we saw you sleeping so calm and free of pain,

We would not wish you back to earth to suffer once again.

You've left us precious memories, your love will be our guide,

You live on through your children, you're always by our side.

It broke our hearts to lose you, but you did not go alone.

For part of us went with you on the day God called you home

Note: We will be observing a mourning period and out of respect we will not be blogging for a few weeks....... Please keep checking back until then. Thank you

WTF

2009-03-23T07:25:00.000-07:00

Israeli minister calls for new Gaza invasion

Deputy defence minister Matan Vilnai demands capture of land being used to fire mortars into Israel by Rory McCarthy in Jerusalem www.guardian.co.uk

Monday 23 March 2009 - Israel's deputy defence minister has called for a new invasion of Gaza and the capture of land close to the border, despite growing domestic and international concern about the conduct of the previous war.
"We need to conquer the areas from which mortar shells are being fired," Matan Vilnai told an Israeli conference on the Gaza war last night. "The mortar shell is the main threat," he said. Most were launched from within four miles (6km) of the border. "We just need to be there," he said.
His comments reflected a wider Israeli frustration with the results of the devastating three-week war. Israeli forces destroyed thousands of homes and buildings and killed more than 1,400 Palestinians but failed to achieve their main goal: to halt the rockets and mortars which are still being fired into southern Israel.
Binyamin Netanyahu, who is expected to become the prime minister of a new, rightwing Israeli government within days, has decided that "toppling the Hamas government in the Gaza Strip" will be a strategic goal of his government.
The latest criticism of Israeli military conduct in Gaza comes in the wake of fresh testimony last week from Israeli soldiers who gave accounts of how Palestinian civilians were killed and their homes ransacked. Themilitary said it would investigate the claims.
This week Richard Falk, the United Nations special rapporteur on human rights in the occupied Palestinian territories, is due to report to the UN human rights council. An advance copy of his report is highly critical of the war, saying Israel's "recourse to force was not legally justified given the circumstances and diplomatic alternatives available, and was potentially, a crime against peace". He calls for an expert inquiry into war crimes allegations against Israel.

A.R.A.B. rap

2009-03-17T14:09:00.000-07:00

some levity here

Food for thought

2009-03-15T22:07:00.000-07:00

Zionism is the problem

(The Zionist ideal of a Jewish state is keeping Israelis and Palestinians from living in peace.)

By Ben Ehrenreich
March 15, 2009

It's hard to imagine now, but in 1944, six years after Kristallnacht, Lessing J. Rosenwald, president of the American Council for Judaism, felt comfortable equating the Zionist ideal of Jewish statehood with "the concept of a racial state -- the Hitlerian concept." For most of the last century, a principled opposition to Zionism was a mainstream stance within American Judaism.

Even after the foundation of Israel, anti-Zionism was not a particularly heretical position. Assimilated Reform Jews like Rosenwald believed that Judaism should remain a matter of religious rather than political allegiance; the ultra-Orthodox saw Jewish statehood as an impious attempt to "push the hand of God"; and Marxist Jews -- my grandparents among them -- tended to see Zionism, and all nationalisms, as a distraction from the more essential struggle between classes.

To be Jewish, I was raised to believe, meant understanding oneself as a member of a tribe that over and over had been cast out, mistreated, slaughtered. Millenniums of oppression that preceded it did not entitle us to a homeland or a right to self-defense that superseded anyone else's. If they offered us anything exceptional, it was a perspective on oppression and an obligation born of the prophetic tradition: to act on behalf of the oppressed and to cry out at the oppressor.

For the last several decades, though, it has been all but impossible to cry out against the Israeli state without being smeared as an anti-Semite, or worse. To question not just Israel's actions, but the Zionist tenets on which the state is founded, has for too long been regarded an almost unspeakable blasphemy.

Yet it is no longer possible to believe with an honest conscience that the deplorable conditions in which Palestinians live and die in Gaza and the West Bank come as the result of specific policies, leaders or parties on either side of the impasse. The problem is fundamental: Founding a modern state on a single ethnic or religious identity in a territory that is ethnically and religiously diverse leads inexorably either to politics of exclusion (think of the 139-square-mile prison camp that Gaza has become) or to wholesale ethnic cleansing. Put simply, the problem is Zionism.

It has been argued that Zionism is an anachronism, a leftover ideology from the era of 19th century romantic nationalisms wedged uncomfortably into 21st century geopolitics. But Zionism is not merely outdated. Even before 1948, one of its basic oversights was readily apparent: the presence of Palestinians in Palestine. That led some of the most prominent Jewish thinkers of the last century, many of them Zionists, to balk at the idea of Jewish statehood. The Brit Shalom movement -- founded in 1925 and supported at various times by Martin Buber, Hannah Arendt and Gershom Scholem -- argued for a secular, binational state in Palestine in which Jews and Arabs would be accorded equal status. Their concerns were both moral and pragmatic. The establishment of a Jewish state, Buber feared, would mean "premeditated national suicide."

The fate Buber foresaw is upon us: a nation that has lived in a state of war for decades, a quarter-million Arab citizens with second-class status and more than 5 million Palestinians deprived of the most basic political and human rights. If two decades ago comparisons to the South African apartheid system felt like hyperbole, they now feel charitable. The white South African regime, for all its crimes, never attacked the Bantustans with anything like the destructive power Israel visited on Gaza in December and January, when nearly1,300 Palestinians were killed, one-third of them children.

Israeli policies have rendered the once apparently inevitable two-state solution less and less feasible. Years of Israeli settlement construction in the West Bank and East Jerusalem have methodically diminished the viability of a Palestinian state. Israel's new prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, has even refused to endorse the idea of an independent Palestinian state, which suggests an immediate future of more of the same: more settlements, more punitive assaults.

All of this has led to a revival of the Brit Shalom idea of a single, secular binational state in which Jews and Arabs have equal political rights. The obstacles are, of course, enormous. They include not just a powerful Israeli attachment to the idea of an exclusively Jewish state, but its Palestinian analogue: Hamas' ideal of Islamic rule. Both sides would have to find assurance that their security was guaranteed. What precise shape such a state would take -- a strict, vote-by-vote democracy or a more complex federalist system -- would involve years of painful negotiation, wiser leaders than now exist and an uncompromising commitment from the rest of the world, particularly from the United States.

Meanwhile, the characterization of anti-Zionism as an "epidemic" more dangerous than anti-Semitism reveals only the unsustainability of the position into which Israel's apologists have been forced. Faced with international condemnation, they seek to limit the discourse, to erect walls that delineate what can and can't be said.

It's not working. Opposing Zionism is neither anti-Semitic nor particularly radical. It requires only that we take our own values seriously and no longer, as the book of Amos has it, "turn justice into wormwood and hurl righteousness to the ground."Establishing a secular, pluralist, democratic government in Israel and Palestine would of course mean the abandonment of the Zionist dream. It might also mean the only salvation for the Jewish ideals of justice that date back to Jeremiah.

Ben Ehrenreich is the author of the novel "The Suitors."

Brawl Street with Jon Stewart

2009-03-13T18:48:00.000-07:00

Jon Stewart takes on Jim Cramer and you almost feel sorry for Cramer.

I LOVE JON STEWART! <----- Link

(sorry they did not have the imbed)

Chas Freeman withdraws

2009-03-12T14:06:00.001-07:00

No sooner were we talking about AIPAC, when I heard about Obama's appointee for head of the National Intelligence Council, Chas Freeman, withdrawing due to criticism regarding past remarks concerning China, AIPAC, and financial ties to the Saudi royal family... hmmm, interesting. You have to scroll over to the 42:33 minute mark to hear Warren Olney's interview with Newsweek's investigative reporter, Michael Isikoff.
chasfreeman.mp3

The twisted humor of Purim

2009-03-10T21:01:00.000-07:00

I must not be in a Purim state-of-mind because I had this contorted look on my face as I read this e-mail today, that is, until I read the last two words... Happy Purim ;-)

BREAKING NEWS: Rush Limbaugh Converts to Judaism

It has just been reported that Rush Limbaugh wants to become a Member of the Tribe. Limbaugh announced last night that he would convert to Judaism.

In the spirit of tikkun olam, Limbaugh also proclaimed that he wanted nothing more than to see President Barack Obama succeed as the 44th President of the United States. “President Obama is the only man I know who has the ability to truly repair the world,” Limbaugh said.

"In a post-partisan gesture of good will, we welcome Mr. Limbaugh into the Jewish community," said Ira N. Forman, Executive Director of the National Jewish Democratic Council (NJDC). "We applaud his support for our President and commend him for suspending his radio show on Shabbat."

JTA is reporting that Jewish Democrats are already forming lines in the street in anticipation of being able to participate in Limbaugh’s full entry into the covenant of Abraham.

HAPPY PURIM!

The heart of the matter

2009-03-10T09:05:00.000-07:00

Last week, we had an interesting dialogue sparked by Halla's post "U.S. to vigorously promote peace efforts" - a Yahoo News article about our new Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's recent visit to the middle east. Read the entire discussion here. I finally responded to Ali's last comment and thought I would post it here because it reveals some of my fundamental views on what Israel means to me, why I question the proposed one-state solution, and how I view history.

Ali,
I am very sorry for taking so long to respond. I really do appreciate your comments and I promise I am not ignoring you, I've just been very, very busy but I also wanted to take some time to think about what you have said. My perspective on what would be lost: the creation of the modern day State of Israel gave the Jewish people a place in the world and I don't mean just a physical place, after all, I live a charming and safe life here in the U.S. No, what I mean is it gave the Jewish people - after several hundred, even thousands of years - acknowledgment, validation, and most importantly a Voice on the world stage. Don't the Palestinian people want the same? We deserve these things. Under one state, how would you guarantee a nation of people (the Jewish people) that kind of representation in the world when the majority would be overwhelmingly non-Jewish/Arab and predominantly Muslim? And, after so many decades of hostility, distrust and loss, I am not convinced that dissolving borders would be the responsible thing to do (and what about those that are hellbent on taking over the land and creating an all-Arab land with Muslim rule?). What would you call this one state? Are you saying that it would still be "Israel" but with expanded borders? I'm assuming this is not what you mean, if it were, what would happen to the Palestinian national dream? Or, do you mean for this one state to be all Palestine with a Jewish minority? And if so, then what becomes of the Zionist national dream? Or, do you mean that you are willing to give up on Palestinian nationalism in exchange for Israel giving up it's own nationalism and instead creating some homogenized national identity?

On this issue of representation - Israel represents the Jewish people. That being said, it is admittedly grim to see Israel and Palestine struggle in violence against one another, and these events and actions certainly do not appropriately represent me. But I do not give up on Israel - just like I don't give up on the U.S. when I don't like our president or certain policies.
In regards to Halla's comment on AIPAC - I'm sorry, Halla, but I think your comment is overstated. AIPAC is one political group who's sole purpose has been to lobby Washington to support Israel and Israeli policy - that's what they do - but there are other political, cultural, and economic factors that drive U.S. policy on Israel. The issue I have with AIPAC is that they've pretty much been the only game in town and they're hawkish attitude does not accurately represent all of us. We need alternative Jewish voices in Washington, which as you know, is why I've been pleased to see J-Street now on the scene. On that note, there are and have been Palestinian lobbyists in Washington, too, that have received a lot of money. Interesting article I found in The Forward about this and the current void in this arena since the Fatah/Hamas split http://forward.com/articles/11001/ I would be very interested to see a visible, peace-oriented Palestinian lobbyist group in Washington and then see how we can open up dialogue and work together.

Ali, in regards to history - for the primary reasons I stated above, I do not apologize for the basic ideology behind the zionist movement, yet I would never condone the taking of anyone's land or displacement of peoples. I can't change the way things happened in history. Those that became refugees (perhaps your family?) deserve compensation as do all those that have been displaced whether they be Palestinian or Jewish. I see two histories that don't reconcile easily, yet both are valid.

and one last thing - your words "... live in Peace side by side with thier Arab citizens..." I do love the sentiment.

Take care,
Laura

THANK YOU Yoni Goodman!!

2009-03-07T17:06:00.000-08:00

Waltz with Bashir animator created short-film on Gaza blockade

Closed Zone

Despite declarations that it has "disengaged" from the Gaza Strip, Israel maintains control of the Strip’s overland border crossings, territorial waters, and air space. This includes substantial, albeit indirect, control of the Rafah Crossing.
During the past 18 months, Israel tightened its closure of Gaza, almost completely restricting the passage of goods and people both to and from the Strip.
These policies punish innocent civilians with the goal of exerting pressure on the Hamas government, violating the rights of 1.5 million people who seek only to live ordinary lives – to be reunited with family, to pursue higher education, to receive quality medical treatment, and to earn a living.
The effects of the closure were particularly harsh during the military operation of Dec. 2008 - Jan. 2009. For three weeks, Gaza residents had nowhere to flee to escape the bombing.
Gisha - Legal Center for Freedom of Movement calls on the State of Israel to fully open Gaza's crossings and to allow the real victims of the closure - 1.5 million human beings - the freedom of movement necessary to realize their dreams and aspirations.

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שטח סגור

בניגוד להצהרותיה, ממשיכה ישראל לשלוט על רצועת עזה גם לאחר ההתנתקות באמצעות שליטה על המעברים היבשתיים, על המים הטריטוריאליים ועל המרחב האווירי של הרצועה, לרבות שליטה מהותית אך עקיפה על מעבר רפיח.
בשנה וחצי האחרונות הידקה ישראל את הסגר על רצועת עזה כשהיא מונעת כמעט לחלוטין מעבר של סחורות ואנשים אל ומחוץ לרצועה.
מדיניות זו, המענישה אזרחים חפים מפשע במטרה להפעיל לחץ על שלטון חמאס, שוללת מתושבי עזה את זכותם לחופש התנועה, אשר מהווה תנאי מוקדם למימוש זכויות בסיסיות נוספות. מיליון וחצי איש אשר רק מבקשים לחיות - להתאחד עם בני משפחה, לרכוש השכלה גבוהה, לקבל טיפול רפואי איכותי, לעבוד לפרנסתם - אינם יכולים לעשות זאת בשל חוסר האפשרות לנוע.
המבצע הצבאי חידד את ההשלכות הקשות של מדיניות הסגר כאשר אפילו כשהיו נתונים בסכנת חיים ממשית, לא היה לתושבי עזה לאן לברוח מאימת הלחימה.
עמותת גישה - מרכז לשמירה על הזכות לנוע קוראת למדינת ישראל לפתוח את המעברים של רצועת עזה באופן מלא, ולאפשר לנפגעים האמיתיים מהסגר - מיליון וחצי בני אדם - לחיות בכבוד ולממש את שאיפותיהם וחלומותיהם.

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منطقة مغلقة

تواصل إسرائيل، بخلاف تصريحاتها العلنية، فرض سيطرتها على قطاع غزة، حتى بعد تنفيذ عملية

الانفصال، من خلال سيطرتها على المعابر البرية وعلى المياه الإقليمية وعلى المجال الجوي للقطاع بما في ذلك السيطرة العملية لكن غير المباشرة على معبر رفح.
ضيقت إسرائيل خلال السنة والنصف الأخيرة الإغلاق على قطاع غزة من خلال منعها شبه الكامل لأي حركة بضائع ومعبر الناس من وإلى القطاع.
سياسة الإغلاق هذه التي تعاقب مواطنين أبرياء بهدف ممارسة الضغط على سلطة حماس تسلِب من سكان غزة حقهم في الحركة والذي يعتبر شرطا مسبقا لممارسة حقوق أساسية أخرى. مليون ونصف المليون إنسان الذين جل ما يطلبونه هو العيش الكريم – لم شمل العائلة، اكتساب تعليم جامعي، الحصول على علاج طبي جيد والعمل من أجل كسب لقمة العيش- لا يستطيعون تحقيق ذلك بسبب عدم قدرتهم على الحركة.
لقد أبرزت الحملة العسكرية الآثار الشديدة لسياسة الإغلاق حيث لم يكن أمام سكان غزة، الذين كانوا تحت خطر الموت، أي وجهة للفرار إليها من هول الحرب وفظاعتها.
تطالب جمعية مسلك - مركز للدفاع عن حريّة الحركة دولة إسرائيل بفتح معابر قطاع غزة بشكل كامل والسماح للمتضررين الحقيقيين من الإغلاق- مليون ونصف إنسان - من العيش بكرامة وتحقيق طموحاتهم وأحلامهم.

Beware of glass houses

2009-03-05T22:14:00.000-08:00

CNBC loves to get on Obama but you know the saying about throwing stones and glass houses.....here is the beauty of television!

The Daily Show With Jon StewartM - Th 11p / 10c

CNBC Gives Financial Advice

Daily Show Full Episodes
Important Things With Demetri Martin

Political Humor
Joke of the Day

I know, I know am obsessed with Jon Stewart! But with all the news I watch, he is a political junkies comic relief and he is always right on!

"I want to be a full Israeli citizen"

2009-03-05T08:15:00.000-08:00

by: Jonathan Cook, Foreign Correspondent
Last Updated: February 24. 2009

NAZARETH, ISRAEL // When Israel’s 18th parliament opens today, there will be only one Arab woman among its intake of legislators.

Haneen Zoubi has made history: although she is not the first Arab woman to enter the Israeli parliament, the Knesset, she is the first to be elected for an Arab party.

Sitting in her home in Nazareth, the effective capital of Israel’s 1.2 million Palestinian citizens, she is dismissive of her predecessors, two women elected on behalf of Zionist parties. “They were worse than decorations,” she said. “Decorations don’t do any harm, but these women damaged our society. They were no role models at all.”

Ms Zoubi, 39, a representative of the Tajamu Party, known for its Palestinian nationalist platform, has already shown she will not be following in their path. On a recent induction day for Knesset members, she made headlines locally when she pointed out to an official who repeatedly referred to “the territories” that he meant “the occupied Palestinian territories”.

Her election is not Ms Zoubi’s only pioneering moment. She was the first Palestinian citizen to graduate from a media studies course in Israel, at Hebrew University in Jerusalem, and she established the first media classes in Arab schools. For the past six years she has headed an organisation exposing Israeli media bias.

Her priority now, she said, is to advance both the cause of the fifth of the country’s population who are Palestinians, commonly referred to as “Israeli Arabs”, and the cause of Palestinian women in Israel.

“I don’t want to become the Knesset address for Arab women’s issues. I need to raise the interest of the men in my party on women’s issues, not allow their interest to wane because they can dump the issue on me.

”But she said she does represent a demand among the minority’s women for change and political involvement. “Women congratulate me in the street. Even women I know are usually supporters of the Islamic movement or who were planning to boycott the election because of [Israel’s recent attack on] Gaza came and told me they voted for me.”

Alongside her will be nine male Arab party legislators: two from Tajamu, four from an Islamic party and three from the Communist party. A remaining one is Jewish. They will be facing the most hostile Knesset in history. Of the parliament’s 120 members, at least 65 are classified as belonging to the right and far-right and may yet form a governing coalition.

Avigdor Lieberman’s party, Yisrael Beiteinu, which threatens to strip Israel’s Palestinians of citizenship unless they pledge loyalty to a Jewish state, has 15 seats. One of the National Union’s four legislators, Michael Ben-Ari, a former member of an outlawed anti-Arab terrorist group, is appointing two extremist settlers from Hebron as parliamentary aides.

“In a proper state, Lieberman’s programme would be declared illegal. But the real concern is not his platform but that it has been legitimised by the main Zionist parties,” including Kadima, whose leader is Tzipi Livni, and the Likud Party of Benjamin Netanyahu, who is attempting to cobble together a ruling coalition.

Tajamu is almost universally despised by Jewish legislators. Its founder, Azmi Bishara, is living in exile after he was accused of treason over the 2006 Lebanon war; its officials are hounded by the secret police, the Shin Bet; and, as in other recent elections, Zionist parties attempted to bar Tajamu from running. Courts overruled the move.

Ms Zoubi said she will not be fazed. “The Knesset is always hostile to Arab Knesset members and we are well used to their racist language. Even the building shows us we are not welcome. Everywhere there are Jewish symbols – from the Star of David on the flag to the menorahs – that we as Palestinians cannot identify with.”

Like other Palestinian citizens, she has watched the TV news bulletins showing Jewish legislators, even cabinet ministers, shouting down Arab legislators in the Knesset chamber and having them ejected.

The racist discourse that lies behind Knesset debates is a concern, she said. “It is frustrating and exhausting having always to be on the defensive about why I identify as a Palestinian, why I am not a Zionist, why the Jewish state is not democratic and cannot represent me, why I am entitled to citizenship. It is a Sisyphean labour.”

The party’s platform – developed by Mr Bishara – is to reform Israel from a Jewish state into a “state of all its citizens”, a programme now advocated by all the Arab parties.

“The Jewish public don’t like self-confident, unapologetic Arabs, which is why Azmi was always feared. But actually I think there is a base of support even among Jews for reforming Israel into a proper democracy, maybe as much as 30 per cent.”She hopes that her election – by breaking one of Jewish society’s stereotypes about the Palestinian public – may start to win over more Israeli Jews to the party’s programme.

In the meantime, she said, Tajamu will work to oppose confiscation of Arab land and house demolitions, and demand proper infrastructure in the minority’s communities, as well as have their educational and economic rights recognised.

But she is critical of the Palestinian minority’s dominant political demand for many decades: equality. “The struggle solely for equality treats me as a number, it reduces me to part of a mathematical formula. It ignores my history, identity and narrative as a Palestinian. I want to be a full Israeli citizen, but it must not come at the expense of my people’s collective rights to an identity and a past.”

And more recent information on Haneen Zoubi from jpost, I especially like how she points out that Lieberman (who wants to make all israeli arabs take a loyalty test) should take the loyalty test since he is from Moldavia while she & her family have been in the country for generations.... Good for her!!

Help a child(ren) in need

2009-03-04T14:40:00.000-08:00

Whether you are arab (christian or moslem/muslim), jewish or american.......This is a great thing to do to help these poor children who have lost their family members or have been disfigured. The information provided is thru a Jordanian agency but I am on the hunt to see if we have anything similar in the U.S.

From Ali's Blog (a blogger from Jordan).....Thanx Ali!

Today I went to the “Al Munasara Islamic Zakat Committee for Palestinian People” to adopt Fadi, a four year old Palestinian child who is an Orphan. His dad died on December 29 during the War on Gaza by Israeli air planes. I didn’t adopt the child by the norm means but by being responsible for his expenses until he becomes 18 years old. Fadi has 4 brothers and 2 sisters and the family needs financial support.

The money paid is 25 JDs or $35 monthly, which is less than what I spend on my morning coffee at Starbucks or Costa. The money is deposited in the Housing Bank and then transferred to the account of the Bank in the West Bank or Gaza where it is delivered to another committee responsible for giving the money to the family. You can support any kid under the age of 18 in the West Bank and Gaza. After you chose the child, you are given his/her file with the picture, birth certificate, death certificate of the parents, full name, address, school, and even his/her hobbies. Many of these kids lost both their parents and live in foster homes.

I personally chose this child who lost his dad in the War, so I will never forget what Israel did to 3,000 innocent children in Palestine. You can sponsor as many children as you want, and you can pay monthly, quarterly or yearly installments. You can also give money to children in Palestine without the need of adopting any child.

When I was there, a middle age Iraqi man came and paid 300JDs (1 year support) after adopting a child. Another young man came and paid anonymously to the children’s fund.

I urge anyone who can spare 25JDs a month to check the committee and help as much as possible.

The address is:

Jabal Al Hussien

Go straight after the Ministry of Industry and Trade traffic light, pass the Chinese Restaurant, first building on your right hand side. 1st Floor.

Tel: 962-6-5697461

Email: monasara@go.com.jo

Clinton criticizes the siezure of Palestinian land in East Jerusalem

2009-03-04T07:02:00.000-08:00

OMG, a criticism of Israel regarding settlements from an American Official!!

What is this world coming to?

U.S. to vigorously promote peace efforts

2009-03-03T08:14:00.000-08:00

I wish her allot of luck!

Niyaz - Music and Mysticism

2009-02-24T20:04:00.001-08:00

I had never heard of the band, Niyaz, until I heard them on KCRW's Morning Becomes Eclectic, yesterday. I was in seventh heaven, or maybe I should say "ninth heaven" seeing as their new cd is called Nine Heavens. Their music - a blend of Persian, Indian, Turkish, and other Middle Eastern influences - evokes memories of my childhood when my dad would put on Ravi Shankar, and especially so, of my mother dancing and the restaurant she performed at. The trance-like melodies are stirring, like a soul that weeps but also dances in delight. The name, Niyaz, which I learned means "yearning" in Farsi describes it perfectly.

The band members are Iranian & Indian, Afghan, American, and Palestinian. In this video of their live in-studio performance, lead singer Azam Ali talks of the social political message behind their music. As she states, "Looking at the world right now... we are getting bombarded with extremism of religion and forgetting where all of this comes from... the goal is to transcend religion and culture through music and through the core of the message." Much of their music is inspired by Sufi mysticism & poetry, Azam says that Sufi mysticism is really the core of Islam, and that in going back to the mystical roots of all religions we find that they are all universal.

Blues & people

2009-02-20T12:16:00.000-08:00

Hubby and I went to a Blues harp (harmonica) show last nite, you had entertainers from as far as New York and Texas and played blues with while well known local musicians sat and jammed with them. That was a real treat for us as the only live shows we usually see are from local bands and occasionally a touring act.

We also got a rare treat to see a woman from Dallas by the name of "Cheryl Arena" play harmonica and sing at the same time, she was awesome. Of course with so many musicians performing the place was packed, even though I was told by hubby that we were actually very early and should have no problem getting a table......Wrong! We stood in front of the band for the 3 hours we were there and the place was still jumping when we left, after all it was a weekday and way past our bedtime. My ears are still ringing from the loud sound system!

But my favorite thing to do at these clubs as hubby is always reminding me, is people watch as well as enjoying the show, of course.

Blues lovers are a breed all on its own with lots of colorful characters and no matter if you go once a month, once a year or every so many years you always see the same people. Besides the obvious busty girls that have to show you their blues moves, we have developed nicknames for some of them.

A woman that we call "Red" her hair is obviously red but so bright you cannot forget her, she is from South Africa and came to our attention years ago when she used to have her thong underwear peaking out of her low rider jeans (always) and a regular social butterfly and did I mention that she was in her 50's way back when.......

Hawke, we call him Hawke because he reminds us of a character in the old Rooster Cogburn movie but a few years ago we found out his name is really Steven, but for us he is still Hawke. He has long braid with a bandanna tied on his head under a cowboy hat, jeans, cowboy boots & leather jacket. Get the picture? This outfit never changes every time we see him......

Phyllis as in Diller that is, a woman who has to be in her late 60's but always looks good, really short styled hair, spiked blond on top and brown in the back dressed nice with a fur around her shoulders and always no matter what day it is manages to have the same seat at the bar and close to the stage, very hard to get (very few seats) so she must get there real early to stake her spot. Very popular and is always getting greeted by people.

And then there is Bill, a bass guitarist that we have seen over the years in different bands but must now be lost....cause it seems like every time they have these jam sessions, he forces himself on the stage and just after one set they bring in someone else to take over. We watched one musician with another bass player gesturing for him to come and take over as he was singing, it was comical but kinda sad cause he used to be really good.........

And those are just a few of the regulars, hubby took our daughter to her first blues on a Sunday afternoon one year and they still laugh about watching a guy get kicked out and still kept on coming back in and dancing.....not to mention all the enhanced women shall we say, that love to flaunt it out there and see how far they get........ and thats just a few of the characters.

So can you blame me for people watching?

Heaven Scent

2009-02-19T20:06:00.000-08:00

I wish you could smell this! Orange County was once nothing but orange groves as far as the eye could see. Well, we still have a few orange trees left. At our house we have two orange trees, one in the front yard and one in the back. This time of year, the orange blossoms fill the air with their sweet perfume. I just took these pics a few minutes ago. The blossoms above are of our tree in the front and the oranges (right) were just plucked from our tree in the back.

HOMOPHONIA !!

2009-02-18T20:43:00.000-08:00

It was like any other Tuesday evening - a school night. I returned home from dance class at 7:45 p.m. My son, sitting at the kitchen table with a textbook in front of him, paper and pen in hand. I sat down in the chair next to his and took note of the mess that needed cleaning. Crumpled up dirty napkins, bread crumbs, two dinner plates with bones and bits of vegetables left from the take-out chicken dinner I brought home two hours earlier.

I glanced over at his textbook. "What are you working on?"

"History notes."

"What about English? Do you have any homework for English?"

"Yeah, a worksheet on homophones."

"Oh, we have one of those!"

He gave a puzzled look. "Right there. Our phone on the wall," I explained in Gracie Allen style, "It's our home phone. A home-a-phone ... ha ha ha." He gave me a look and a smirk.

I continued with my usual drill. "Any other homework for History or English?"

"No."

"Science?"

"Done."

"Spanish?"

"No."

"Math?"

"Yes, but it's simple. I can do it fast, mom."

"O.K."

I collected the dishes and dirty napkins and wiped off the table. He went back to his notes. I went on with the dishes. The kitchen was a mess. I unloaded the dishwasher, loaded the dirty dishes, wiped down the counter tops and sink, and threw out the trash. And for the umpteenth time this week, I noticed that the floor needed sweeping and the windows needed washing.

BRRRRRRRRRRRRIIIIIIIING!!

The shrill of the phone broke the evening's progress. I stopped what I was doing and just stood there for a moment. My son raised his head from his book and we looked at each other with stagnant consternation.

BRRRRRRRRRRRRIIIIIIING!!

Our eyes shifted toward the phone and then back at each other. In a guided pace, I moved toward the phone. The caller ID confirmed our dread.

BRRRRRRRRRRRRIIIIIIING!!

I picked up the phone - if only to stop that shrill! No words. I waited through the moment of silence until the recorded message played. Her voice, pleasant and apathetic - "Good evening. This is Mrs. B. and I'm calling in regards to our zero-tolerance homework policy. Your child did not turn in a homework assignment... " - the voice faded away as I placed the phone back in it's cradle. The words "zero-tolerance" ringing in my ear... I already knew the rest of the recorded message.

"It's done," he said in a downcast voice, as he pulled out the now-completed homework assignment and mandated note. I picked up a pen and signed.

"Is there anything else??" I interrogated.

"Well... I forgot to write down my math assignment... but I'm pretty sure I know what page it's on... well... pretty sure but not entirely sure."

With a raised brow, I sighed. Here we go again.

For my dear son: a bright and creative boy who can ace almost any test despite the fact that he routinely forgets, loses, and/or just plain doesn't want to do his homework. Love always, mom.

60 minutes, JStreet, ADL, & Lisa Goldman

2009-02-16T20:42:00.000-08:00

I'm backtracking here, this is the post I started on Thursday, January 29th, the same day that I received the e-mail from J Street (referenced below), but had to put it on hold when my husband got sick and had to go to the emergency room. Been busy with Spanish homework and my job so I'm having trouble keeping up on my posts.- nevertheless, I think it's still relevant (especially after seeing Halla's post from earlier today).

Jan 29th, 2009; A good example of how trying to understand the news from Israel & Palestine can get so complex and confusing... convoluted, kind of like those highways that cut through and go up, around and over parts of the West Bank to Israeli settlements. I do my best to try and expand my mind beyond that 27-inch-peephole-to-the-world that sits in my living room. To keep an open mind but at the same time, not take things at surface value. So, as usual, I'm trying to piece it all together.

This morning, I received an e-mail from J Street PAC entitled, "60 Minutes under attack" in reference to the same 60 minutes video that Halla posted the other day. The e-mail reads:

All week, 60 Minutes' Bob Simon has been under attack for supposed "anti-Israel bias" for this past Sunday's accurate and thoughtful report on the danger that Israeli settlements pose to the chances for Israeli-Palestinian peace. If you haven't yet seen the segment, view it here. CAMERA (the Orwellian-named Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting in America) alerted their activist network - flooding the 60 Minutes' offices and their advertisers with angry phone calls charging media bias. [1] Jewish community leader Abe Foxman fired off a letter calling the piece "a hatchet job on Israel." [2]Journalists - as well as rabbis, professors and elected officials - know that if they raise questions about what Israel does - they'll often get attacked as anti-Israel. It's one way the forces of the status quo constrain debate and discussion on what's really best for Israel and the United States.

... and continues from there with a request to "send Bob Simon a note of support for his accurate and thoughtful report on Israeli settlements and the occupation".

I immediately sent the note-of-support form letter via J-Street's website. If there's one thing I can't stand, it's censorship. And besides, I've come to trust J-Street's pro-Israel/pro-peace stance and their work to broaden the discussion on what's best for Israel, Palestine, and the U.S.
But at the same time, after viewing Bob Simon's report, I thought about what Lisa Goldman had to say on the subject of "settlers" in the comment section of her post Sustainable Conflict Tourism (still, one of my favorite reads). In response to a question, "Did you see any settlers?", Lisa's reply gave a more comprehensive view of the term "settler":

I didn't see any settlers that day. There are, however, many well-documented instances of the extremist settlers who live in the Hebron area attacking Palestinians while they were picking olive, hearding goats, etc. I've had quite a few very unpleasant run-ins with those settlers, who really are the loony fringe. I use the term "loony" quite deliberately, because a lot of those extremists seem to have serious personality disorders. Their way of expressing their political/religious ideology is just a manifestation of their personality disorders. I've been spat at, cursed and shoved. I've seen the loonies wearing T-shirts emblazoned with slogans that praise Meir Kahane, while they were demonstrating and chanting racist slogans under the protection of Druze and Bedouin border police. On the other hand, when I once showed up in Hebron wearing a long skirt and without a reporter's notebook in my hand, they were very welcoming.I think it's really important to emphasize that "the settlers" are not a monolith. That's why I poked fun at the English woman on the van, because I think the Israeli Left makes a huge mistake in painting a disparate group of people with a single brush. This creates unnecessary schisms and alienation. Where conciliation could easily be effected with a different attitude. I know lots of non-ideological, non-religious people who live in largely secular West Bank Jewish towns for simple economic reasons. They’d be perfectly happy to live inside the Green Line if they could afford a nice bungalow with a garden, instead of a cramped two-bedroom in a marginal neighbourhood. There are also a lot of religious settlers who do believe in a two-state solution – just not precisely along the Green Line. In that sense their political POV is quite similar to mainstream Israeli opinion. The extremists are the minority, but they make the most noise so they get the most media coverage - as usual.

It was after I sent my J-Street note to Bob Simon that I went back and read ADL Abe Foxman's letter to CBS. I didn't think it was that bad. His tone is defensive, even scolding, but the content is considerable. Foxman states,

Bob Simon presented the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in stark black-and-white terms, without context or history and ignoring its complexities. The resulting impression is that the prominent voice in Israel is that of the hard-line settler and of an Israeli army that undertakes actions to purposely humiliate Palestinians.
It is especially shocking coming from Bob Simon, who lived and reported from Israel for many years and is well aware of the complex nature of the conflict.
What Simon should have found the time to include in the piece is that the Israeli government and the Israeli public are committed to seeking a negotiated two-state solution with the Palestinian Authority; that in pursuing this goal, Israel cannot ignore the real threats to its security from terrorist groups and extremists in the West Bank and Gaza; that the barrier erected to prevent suicide attackers from entering Israeli cities and towns has saved lives.
What should have been stated is that Israel has taken real risks for peace – from its unilateral disengagement from the Gaza Strip in 2005, which included the uprooting of settlements, to removing itself from Palestinian populations centers in the West Bank, to its support the for the Palestinian Authority.

Did I make a mistake by supporting Bob Simon's report? Did I jump too quickly on the premise of countering censorship? Bob Simon has the right to produce a report, like he did, that is focused and localized. Abe Foxman has the obligation and is correct to point out what might be missing from Bob Simon's report - that the conflict is not black and white. But, no, I don't think I made a mistake. Journalists must be allowed to report freely and responsibly, and we have to be able to consider and talk about these issues without jumping down each others throats, only then can we expand the conversation and create meaningful and thoughtful progress - and that was the premise of the J Street e-mail.

Can someone please explain to me

2009-02-16T14:32:00.001-08:00

how this advances the peace process???

Please???

"Dumb it down"

2009-02-15T21:04:00.000-08:00

Thanks, Andy Rooney. I feel much better now.

Jews or lose & Jew makin me crazy

2009-02-12T16:01:00.000-08:00

Only Jon Stewart can help us make sense out of the Israeli Election!!

The Daily Show With Jon StewartM - Th 11p / 10c

Indecision 5769 - Jews or Lose

Daily Show Full Episodes
Important Things With Demetri Martin

Funny Political News
Joke of the Day

The Daily Show With Jon StewartM - Th 11p / 10c

Indecision 5769 - Historic Election

Daily Show Full Episodes
Important Things With Demetri Martin

Funny Political News
Joke of the Day

Insane

2009-02-11T14:23:00.000-08:00

What is wrong with these people? First they rape the shareholders and then the taxpayers.......Out of control!!

Cuomo Finds Big Bonuses for Many at Merrill

War and Peace - and the Israeli Election

2009-02-10T11:05:00.001-08:00

Interesting discussion, yesterday on KCRW's To The Point, in regards to today's election in Israel.

War and Peace.mp3

Medical insurance, kind of a screwy system.

2009-02-01T12:05:00.000-08:00

I started a post on Thursday, January 29th, about Bob Simon on 60 minutes and the controversy surrounding his report, but had to put it on hold when my husband got sick and had to go to the emergency room - nothing too serious, fortunately, but enough to land him in the hospital for a few days. While in the ER, each patient's "room" separated only by a curtain, we could hear the conversations on either side of us. The patient on the left side said he didn't have any insurance but assured the dr. that he had enough money to pay for his treatment. They don't turn people away, the doctors and nurses are great, they treat everyone the same. Even so, if you don't have insurance, the administrators have to sit down with you and try to negotiate a cost settlement and payment agreement. I've heard of this before, from a friend whose 26 yr. old son was in a bad car accident, no insurance, and after getting the frightening 2 a.m. phone call from the hospital and driving down there in the middle of the night, she had to sit down with them and reach a settlement agreement to the tune of $12,000 - hospital bill only (not including the separate bill she would get from the surgeon & anesthesiologist). Then the patient on the right hand side of us was diagnosed with a respiratory infection - no insurance and no means to pay. The dr. said he would give him a couple of breathing treatments there at the hospital and would send him on his way with a prescription for Zithromax, the preferred antibiotic for respiratory infections. The dr. told him the Zithromax would cost him around $60 (??? I've taken this before and think his estimate is low, try more like over $200). The man said he couldn't afford that and asked if the dr. could just give him a penicillin shot. The dr. said that he couldn't give him something that wouldn't work, but if he was really in a pinch he could prescribe doxycycline - an antibiotic in the same family as zithromax, not the preferred treatment but it might work - and he could get it as a generic from WalMart or Target for $4. The man took that option. My husband is self-employed and pays for his own insurance, it's expensive and the rate goes up every year. I whispered to my husband that his insurance is helping to pay for these other patients. He rolled his eyes. Kind of a screwy system.

an open letter to Obama

2009-01-30T22:15:00.000-08:00

Found this compelling and appealing, especially since the letter is being read by Jewish woman.....

Peace Now Reports 60% Increase in Settlement Construction in 2008

2009-01-29T12:00:00.001-08:00

After the 60 minutes piece on the settlements (see below) this report has good timing.......

Peace Now Reports 60% Increase in Settlement Construction in 2008; APN Urges Obama to Demand Real Settlement Freeze
See articles citing Peace Now's report from Israeli and international outlets
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE - January 28, 2009
CONTACT: Ori Nir - (202) 728-1893 Washington, D.C. –
Following the publication in Israel of a Peace Now report that shows a sharp increase in settlement construction last year, Americans for Peace Now today urged the Obama administration to insist that Israel's government completely stop the building of settlements in the West Bank and remove illegal settlement outposts.
"Appallingly, the year that followed Prime Minister Olmert's commitment in Annapolis to freeze settlement construction saw a sharp surge, not only in so-called 'settlement blocs' but also east of the security barrier, deep inside the West Bank. Every structure built in a settlement makes the two-state solution more difficult to achieve and further jeopardizes Israel's future as a Jewish democratic country. The time has come to build a secure and peaceful future for Israel rather than to construct more obstacles to peace," said Debra DeLee, President and CEO of APN, America's leading pro-Israel pro-peace organization.
The new report by Peace Now, APN's Israeli sister organization, shows that in 2008 at least 1,257 new structures were built in the West Bank, compared to 800 new structures in 2007. Most of the new construction last year was of permanent structures – 748 of the 1,257. In addition, according to the report, 261 new structures were built in illegal settlement outposts and not a single outpost was removed.
To view the full report, which also includes data on land confiscation and road construction in the West Bank, as well as construction in East Jerusalem in 2008, go to:
http://www.peacenow.org.il/site/en/peace.asp?pi=61&docid=3508

APN is a Jewish, Zionist organization dedicated to enhancing Israel's security through peace and to supporting the Israeli Peace Now movement.

Victims no more?! An open letter to my Jewish brothers and sisters

2009-01-27T20:20:00.000-08:00

Thanx to fellow blogger http://thru-other-eyes.typepad.com/ for this great post and gives us food for thought!

Dear Friends,

Thank you very much for the video you sent me called "An Open Letter To The World From Israel." Here's an open letter in return. Although we have sharply differing views on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in general and perhaps even more divergent perspectives on the most recent war in Gaza, my respect and love for you always lead me to listen to your views with an open mind.

The video, with its catalogue of many of the most heinous dignities we Jews have faced through the centuries, is frankly a not very subtle playing of the ‘anti-Semite card.’ Apparently in your opinion - and from what I have seen and heard over the last three weeks, in the opinion of Israel, most of her citizens and much of world Jewry - what we have witnessed in Gaza, the events that led up to it and the reaction of many people and media around the world can best be viewed in the context of age-old and still present global anti-Semitism.

The last few days I have spent a great deal of time thinking very deeply about the significance, value and validity of playing the “anti-Semite card” anno 2009.

The anti-Semite card goes hand in hand with presenting ourselves to the world as the victims in this conflict and therein lies for me the true problem.

I believe that this view, that we are the victims here, is an honest conviction among many of our people, both inside and outside of Israel. Some may say it is a PR stunt but I don’t buy that. So why does this view fail to resonate amongst so much of the world. I know your answer: because the world always has been and still is filled with so much anti-Semitism. But let me give you another possibility.

Any PR effort, no matter how well funded, how well coordinated, regardless of its level of sophistication or articulation, will not resonate when at its core it attempts to push an inauthentic truth. Perhaps we really see ourselves as the victim but because it is such an outlandish idea – that we are the victims – that any PR effort is going to come across as contrived and transparent. Israel is not the victim. How can Israel be the victim?

Think about it for a moment. Which party to this conflict has the most resources? Which has by far the larger, more sophisticated and more technologically advanced economy? Which has more and far better functioning civil institutions, world class universities and research institutes? Who has the larger military and security capabilities by any measure: budget, technology, equipment, training, sophistication and organization? Which party to this conflict has its own country?

Who has been treated by the other in the fashion so eloquently and accurately described in Saree Makdisee’s book ‘Palestine Inside Out: An Everyday Occupation’:

Tending one's fields, visiting a relative, going to the hospital: for ordinary Palestinians, such everyday activities require negotiating permits and passes, curfews and closures, "sterile roads" and "seam zones”... In devastating detail, Saree Makdisi reveals how the "peace process" institutionalized Palestinians' loss of control over their inner and outer lives... Through eye-opening statistics and day-by-day reports, we learn how Palestinians have seen their hopes for freedom and statehood culminate in the creation of abject "territories"...

We can bring all kinds of explanations, reasons and excuses why this has been the situation of the Palestinians for the last 41 years under Israeli control, but the fact remains that this is the situation of the Palestinians under Israeli control for the past 41 years. For some, for the past 61 years even.

Many of the Palestinians we have just bombed the hell out of used to live where we now live. This is a fact. When you see on TV an older Palestinian man or woman crying and screaming in what to us may seem like an exaggerated emotional style, let me tell you, it is not exaggerated. Not at all. No my friends, as deep as our grief can be at our own losses, I wonder if we can imagine the depths of their grief. This isn’t the first time they have been on the receiving end of what they experienced these last 22 days. It’s neither the second, nor the third or fourth, or even fifth or sixth. This is the umpteenth time they have had to go through this, on the receiving end of us. Think about it for a minute. How can we be the victims?

At some point in time, maybe from the very beginning, I don’t know, but at some point in time our conflict with the Palestinians - the indigenous population of the lands on which we now also live - became a zero-sum game. And we have always won the game and they have always remained with zero.

And not only zero from us, by and large from the Arab world as well. And when it comes to meaningful and timely action from the international community, they still largely get a big fat zero. The Palestinians are admittedly getting a lot of support from the international ‘street’ in this conflict but not from their governments. So if we are going to talk about a victim, how can we be the victims here?

And when other people see the Palestinians as the ‘victims,’ as the David and Israel as the Goliath, we can get incredibly indignant. “Anti-Semites!” we scream. “We are the victims, not they,” we protest. But why, and importantly, what is the effect of holding on to this victim’s viewpoint?

Avram Burg, a former Speaker of the Knesset in Israel addressed this in his book, ‘The Holocaust Is Over; We Must Rise From its Ashes:’

Burg argues that the Jewish nation has been traumatized and has lost the ability to trust itself, its neighbors or the world around it. He shows that this is one of the causes for the growing nationalism and violence that are plaguing Israeli society... Burg uses his own family history--his parents were Holocaust survivors--to inform his innovative views on what the Jewish people need to do to move on and eventually live in peace with their Arab neighbors and feel comfortable in the world at large.

We have to stop feeling like and ‘being’ victims. How can we have a bright national future if our national psyche is so immobilized in our past? And you want to know what’s really crazy about our situation? There is a way to let go of the past - not forgetting it, not ceasing to honor it, remaining ever wary of the lessons it teaches all mankind about hate and prejudice - but of psychologically letting go so we can move forward. There is one way, perhaps one way only, and that way leads through the Palestinians.

My friends, we have our homeland with all its good and bad, triumphs and troubles, but we have our homeland. And we can no longer hide from the fact that the way in which we have developed our homeland over the past decades has played a significant contributing role in precluding the Palestinians from moving any closer to their own dream of a homeland. (I know they and others have also contributed to this situation, but at the moment we are talking about us.)

We must also face the fact that there is no way to justify the point of view that we have more right to a homeland than the Palestinians. Many of them used to live right here, and many of them still live ‘here’ in pieces of territory that we have under our control.

These facts in no way add up to ‘delegitimizing’ the State of Israel, so please, I beg you, don’t go there. Sure, there are people who feel that way, and it my take a long time before those views become a lot less. But the community of nations, today including almost all the Arab and Muslim countries, longs for Israel to become just another regular country, just one of the gang, living in peace and security next to its neighbors, a country that behaves within the normal bandwidth of what the community of nations has to offer. This is something we must learn to accept.

No my friends, given the facts there’s only one place where we can be the victims in this conflict, when we have our homeland, when we hold almost all the cards that really matter. With the balance of power between us and the Palestinians, the only one place where we can actually be the victim is in our own heads. And until our victim-mentality dies off, we aren’t going to get very far on the road to living in peace and security, like a normal country, like one other nation among nations, like one people among peoples.

You remember our forefathers had to wander 40 years in the desert after a terrible 400-year sojourn in Egypt, victims of slavery. Those forty years were needed to lose the slave mentality and become ready to take possession of our new land. Do we have to wait 250 years after our 2500-year sojourn as victims of anti-Semitism in the Diaspora before we are ready to dwell in a Promised Land? I for one am not willing to wait another 189 years and I’m sure the Palestinians don’t want to wait even another five years! So we’re going to have to move this process along if we don’t want to see more and more violence, more and more hatred and more and more of all of our blood being spilt.

There’s only one way to let go of our tortured past and move on to a new future. And yes, that road lies through the Palestinians. By reaching out to them, truly reaching out with two open hands, we will discover that we have let go of the past. To get to the other side of the river, my friends, one must let go of the shore.

We are not the victims, not any more. We have our homeland while the Palestinians are still struggling to reach their’s. They have exactly the same inalienable rights as we do to a country as viable and as fine as ours. A wrong has been committed, and like it or not, we have been a party to that wrong, through action and inaction, knowingly and unknowingly, intentionally and by accident, consciously and unconsciously. Yes, our karma is connected to a wrong and we have it in our power to help right that wrong.

My friends, if we were to reach out in this way then we would no longer be thinking or acting like victims. Reaching out to the Palestinians with sincerity, generosity of spirit and dare I say even love would be the actions of a strong, self-confident, future-focused and vigorous people.

Only when we stop being the victims can we move forward to the bright future we all dream of. Only by moving forward to the bright future we all dream of can we stop being victims. And we can only do it with the Palestinians.

Ironic isn’t it?

With much love,

Lennybruce

Clinton, Mitchell, and a message from Haniyeh's old Jewish friend

2009-01-27T00:06:00.000-08:00

Bienvenidos a la blog En Terreno Neutral! I'm learning Spanish and just had to do that (proper Spanish, that is, not the slang phrases and bad words that my coworkers try to teach me)

There's been a lot going on this past week since Obama took office, and I'm glad to see it. Reflecting back on the past 8 years, I shake my head and have to ask, what the (bleep) was that?!? And, although I still hear a few voices of pessimism, I see change happening. Underscoring Obama's promise on pursing vigorous, sustained diplomatic efforts, we have seen a series of political appointments and actions.

We saw Hillary Clinton take her place as our new Secretary of State. She's been a polarizing figure in recent years - mostly for being consistantly at odds with the Bush administration- but I've got to hand it to her, this girl's got chutzpah. With her well-known status in the international community and long experience in field of law, civil rights, child welfare, and women's issues, this could prove to be a good fit for Hillary and I believe she will be a much stronger Secretary of State than Condi, who I saw as just a mouthpiece for the Bush administration. Unlike Condi and the W. administration, Obama welcomes open debate within his cabinet and I'm pretty sure Hillary won't hesitate to say what she thinks.

Then the appointment of George Mitchell as special envoy to the Middle East. To my chagrin, this article states that Mitchell's appointment is politically sensitive because some Israeli "conservatives" and Israel's American supporters have expressed concern that he will exert new pressures on Israel while "... some more dovish pro-Israel groups... praised the selection." This kind of political labeling bothers me. I fear it's the old rhetorical tactic of divide and marginalize. Or, in other words, if I support Mitchell's appointment do I run the risk of being marginalized as a "leftist self-hating Jew", who therefore, holds no credibility? Need I say this couldn't be farther from the truth - I am a proud Jew and politically speaking, consider myself more of a sometimes-left-leaning-centrist. I also tend to be an optimist, and so, I think tides are changing enough so that the old, tired rhetoric may... just may... be left behind.

So many other changes too - from executive orders to prohibit torture and close Guantanamo, to repealing the global gag rule, to paving the way for more energy-efficient vehicles by ordering the EPA to reconsider a California waver (and 13 other states)... and one of my favorite statements (among many) from Obama's inaugural speech, "We will restore science to it's rightful place" - hallelujah!

And lastly - this, I just loved - an interview with 70-yr. old Israeli, Danny Mahlouf, an old boss and friend of the now Hamas Prime Minister, Ismail Haniyeh. Mahlouf describes the friendship he used to have with Haniyeh, how they used to go to each other's family affairs, eat together, and spend time at each other's houses, and ultimately, the loss of Haniyeh's brother, which he believes turned Haniyeh into the Islamic militant he is today. Mahlouf is a straight talker who doesn't mince words and had a message for his old employee and friend, "... if you see him, best wishes to Haniyeh. I say to him, Ismail, get better, stop making problems, it's over. That's my message to Ismail. And lose the beard. Tell him your boss, Danny the plasterer, Rachel's husband, sends his best wishes and stop making all those problems. We all want peace." And, just as I suspected, by reading some of the comments on this interview, the first reaction is that it's all Israel's fault - that Haniyeh was a peaceful man until a "zionist" killed his brother. That may be true, but if you ask me - yes- we're all human and our reactions are understandable - but history has shown that even under the most dire circumstances, each and every one of us is capable of making a choice. The man who killed Haniyeh's brother made a choice and so did Haniyeh. We all have free will - I hope we learn to choose peace.

Obama shows up on Al-Arabiya

2009-01-26T23:26:00.000-08:00

President Obama (I love saying that) gave his first TV interview to Al-Arabiya TV and spoke to the Arab world telling them among other things that America is not their enemy.
If anyone can get some changes done this man can!!

P.S. Can you tell I finally figured out how to post a video??? Google is awesome

Is Peace out of reach?

2009-01-26T12:01:00.001-08:00

60 Minutes aired an interesting news piece by Bob Simon that shows how settlements hurt the Palestinians chances of having a state in the west bank and therefore threatening any peace process

Watch CBS Videos Online

This is our moment! This is our time!

2009-01-20T09:00:00.000-08:00

The PRESIDENT of the UNITED STATES

YES WE DID!!

This is disgusting!!

2009-01-19T21:27:00.001-08:00

First he had to deal with this and afterwards when he was being interviewed by reporters he had to deal with this.

What is wrong with them? They have absolutely no humanity!!
The man lost his 3 daughters for gods sake!!!

January 21st, 2009

2009-01-18T00:00:00.000-08:00

With hope and trepidation, I wonder what will happen the day after our historic inauguration. An excerpt from an imagined inaugural address.

FINALLY a ceasefire!!

2009-01-17T17:04:00.000-08:00

Between Obama's upcoming inauguration and the uncertainty of his carte blanche support and oh yeah THIS! Not to mention over 1,200 people killed and about a third women and children and god knows how many injured!

Something had to be done!

Continuing the conversation

2009-01-15T22:25:00.000-08:00

First off, there's something I need to say: pertaining to Halla's post "My ramblings", I commented that the cartoon was reprehensible. On the surface, it's a provocative cartoon depicting an outraged view of current events, but when I saw it, my first thoughts were... blood libel (link provided if you don't know the history)... and... what medieval book did someone drag this image out of? By no means, do I think that Israel should be exempt from questioning, criticism and correction when warranted, but I believe this image goes beyond that and I suspect the creators of this cartoon know it. They know which subcutaneous buttons to push, resulting in off-the-table-itis; the condition in which blood pressure and heart rates can rise, defiant eyes roll, and muscles tighten, creating cognitive road blocks that can lead to a complete communication breakdown. So I say, no more. No more, will we allow ourselves to be grossly and falsely stereotyped as anything less than human - perhaps this captures a part of the ideological essence of Israel. That being said, war and conflict can make all of us something less than human and that makes this very difficult since Israel is supposed to represent all of the Jewish people in the world. Nevertheless, in terms of the cartoon, I refuse to fall into a we-asked-for-it mentality. Gotta draw the line somewhere.

Now that I got that off my chest...

The interview with Lanny Davis and Neve Gordon showed two perspectives from the Israeli side. Both of them offered thought-provoking ideas. And, the same goes for the Ha'aretz article. But this is where I get stuck. You see, Halla has grown up with these politics and as an Israeli citizen and coming from a Palestinian-Israeli background, she has a frame of reference, whereas, I... an American... don't so much. So, I think it's about time I start learning a little about Israel's political structure and basic rules of law. Anyone up for a little schooling? This may not the most scholarly approach, but from my google search, I found the following:

(this is neither to promote nor discredit - merely for educational purposes)
Israel does not have a constitution - it's a work in progress. Sorry, no cut and paste job - you'll have to go to the "Constitution for Israel" link above and browse for yourself.

From this website's home page:

"The purpose of this website is to inform the public of the continuous work of the Constitution, Law, and Justice Committee of the Knesset towards drafting a constitution for the State of Israel. The Committee seeks to create a constitution that represents all members of Israeli society. Read More..."

There are some interesting questions posed on the site like:

"Would Israel be better off with a presidential system of government? Should there be a greater separation between the military and the government? Should the Arab minority enjoy collective rights?"

And...

"The symbols of Israel represent Jewish history, culture, and Zionist ideology. They do not represent non-Jewish minorities that live in Israel. May Israel's symbols remain exclusively Jewish and Zionist, or should they be changed to represent all the citizens of the state?"

A call for Cease Fire Now from Tikkun

2009-01-15T09:05:00.000-08:00

Cease Fire Now in Gaza!

President-elect Obama: It’s Time to End the Violence in theMiddle East—Once and for All Convene an International Middle East Peace Conference to facilitate a lasting and just settlement for all parties. The world’s attention is focused on the Middle East for a fleeting moment. Let’s seize this opportunity to insist on an end to this struggle in all its dimensions.A Call for Lasting PeacePresident-elect Obama:

When you become president, please call for an immediate CEASE-FIRE in GAZA and for an International Peace Conference to implement a fair and lasting solution to all aspects of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The solution must also address the conflict between Israel and other states in the region. The international community must stop the violence and terror against Israeli civilians and against Palestinian civilians in Gaza and the West Bank. The international community must also stop the hidden but persistent violence of the Occupation itself.

Such a solution would be based on the following conditions:

a. The creation of an economically and politically viable Palestinian state (roughly on the pre-1967 borders, with minor border modifications mutually agreed upon between Israel and Palestine).

b. The withdrawal of Israel from the Golan Heights, and simultaneously the full and unequivocal recognition by Palestinians and the State of Palestine and all surrounding Arab states of Israel’s right to exist. Meanwhile Israel must offer full and equal rights to all of its non-Jewish citizens. Preferential treatment for Jews should exist only with regard to immigration, and that must be phased out when anti-Semitism in the world has disappeared. The same preferential treatment for Palestinians should exist in the Palestinian state as long as they face discrimination, reduced rights, or threats to their safety in other parts of the world.

c. The creation of an international consortium to provide generous reparations for Palestinians who have lost homes or property from 1947 to the present, and generous reparations for Jewish refugees from Arab states from 1947 to 1967.

d. The deployment of a long-term international peacekeeping force to separate Hezbollah and Israel in southern Lebanon and northern Israel, to ensure demilitarization of the Golan Heights, to protect Israel and Palestine from each other, to police the borders and the corridor that will need to be established linking Gaza with the West Bank, and to protect both Israel and Palestine from other forces in the region that might seek to control or destroy either state. In addition, treaty agreements must be made with the United States and other Western states to protect both Israel and Palestine from any assault by other countries (e.g. Iran, Pakistan, China, or Russia).

e. The quick imposition of robust sanctions against any party that refuses to sign or that violates these agreements.

It would be in the interests of Israel, the Palestinians, the Arab states, the Jewish people, the United States, and the world if this solution could be imposed on the parties now. It breaks our hearts to see the suffering of the Israeli people, the Palestinian people, the Lebanese people, and others in the region when we know how unnecessary it is. The basic issues can be resolved. No matter how maximalist the fantasies are on each side about eliminating their perceived enemies, and how enticing they seem when people feel powerless in any other way to stop the violence and oppression, the truth is that the majority of the people on all sides of the struggle would embrace peace if they thought it could be established in ways that provided for genuine security from military assault and terrorism for everyone, real justice for Palestinians, and acknowledgment of the wrongs that have been done to each side as a first step in healing the humiliations and huge psychic wounds suffered by Arabs and Jews throughout their histories.

A New Spirit of Openheartedness and Reconciliation

We know that no political solution can work without a change in consciousness that minimally includes an openheartedness and willingness to recognize the humanity of the other, as well as repentance and atonement for the long history of insensitivity and cruelty each side has shown toward the other side.

All sides must take immediate steps to stop the discourse of violence. Members of each side must stop the demeaning of the other in their media, their religious institutions, and their school textbooks and educational systems. They should implement this by creating a joint authority with each other and with moral leaders in the international community. The joint authority must be able to supervise and, if necessary, replace those in positions of power in Jewish, Islamic, and Arab societies who continue to use the public institutions of the society to spread hatred or nurture anger at the other.

Once the other parts of a lasting peace have been set in place, we call upon the parties to this struggle to launch a Truth and Reconciliation Commission, following the model used in South Africa.

We Affirm the Sacredness of All Human Beings President Obama, your presidency might well be the last chance we in the advanced industrial societies have to avert international catastrophe (either environmental or nuclear).

To do so, our way of dealing with the world must model something else besides brute military might, economic self-interest, and indifference to the well-being of others. If not now, when? It is time to overcome national chauvinism and arrogance. Instead we must build ethical and spiritual solidarity among the people of the world. Our well-being depends on the well-being of everyone else on the planet. So we need to build and strengthen those international institutions that can foster this sense of solidarity, which is the necessary foundation for global peace, social and economic justice, and ecological repair of the planet.

A Domestic and Global Marshall Plan—Starting with Israel/Palestine

The self-described “realistic” version of global politics asserts that we live in a world in which our safety can only be achieved through domination because others are always seeking to dominate us first. Of course, when we act on this assumption, it becomes self-fulfilling.

We propose, instead, a strategy of generosity—to act on the assumption that people have an enormous capacity for goodness and generosity (without negating the truth that certain conditions promote fear, anger, and hatred, which sometimes are expressed in horribly destructive ways). For the United States and other G-8 countries, we call for a domestic and global Marshall Plan: for each of the next twenty years, the United States and other G-8 countries should dedicate between 1 percent and 2 percent of their Gross Domestic Product to eliminating hunger, homelessness, poverty, inadequate health care, and inadequate education both at home and around the world, to be paid for by a tax on international financial transactions and a reduction in the military budgets of these countries. We’ve developed the details of a domestic and global Marshall Plan at http://www.spiritualprogressives.org/.

If done in a way that emphasizes caring and solidarity, and not just the money, this strategy of generosity can help heal the angers and feelings of humiliation and abandonment that have been part of the psychological legacy that has made it easier for haters to recruit people into acts of terror or into extremist and fundamentalist consciousness. Just as a domestic Marshall Plan will help build a new sense of solidarity and hope in our country, so a global plan beginning in the Middle East (a plan that you, President Obama, introduce as part of the International Peace Conference) would reduce tensions there, not only by reducing physical suffering, but also by showing the people of the area, as well as people around the world, that selfishness is finally being challenged by a spirit of love and caring.

Israel’s security would be greatly enhanced if the money spent on enforcing an occupation and protecting West Bank settlements went instead toward building a prosperous Palestinian economy. The “cynical realists” claim that others are entrenched in their hatefulness, and that war is the only way to confront them. This kind of thinking has led to 5,000 years of people fighting wars in order to “end all wars”—and it has not worked. It’s time now to try a new strategy of generosity, both economic generosity and generosity of spirit. As stated above, there will first have to be a transitional period in which real military protections are available to people on all sides of the struggle. But by beginning now to simultaneously commit our economic resources and change the way that we talk about those whom we previously designated as “enemies,” we can begin the long process of thawing out angers that have existed for many generations. Precisely at this moment, when our global economic meltdown requires a fundamental rethinking of how we’ve organized our global economy, we can now shift the funds from military spending and other wasteful production toward building a sustainable global reality. You, President Obama, could be the leader who teaches Americans this new way to understand America’s self-interest.

Nothing can redeem the deaths and suffering that all sides have faced in this struggle for the past 120 years. But this very moment could also be the time in which the human race realizes the futility of violence and comes together not only to impose a lasting solution for the Middle East, but also to recognize that our own well-being depends on the well-being of everyone else on the planet. The International Middle East Peace Conference should be structured to achieve this end. In short, it should have an explicit psychological and spiritual dimension and a visionary agenda.

Unrealistic? Not at all. What has proved unrealistic time and again—whether we are talking about U.S. policy in Vietnam and Iraq, or Israeli and Arab policies in the Middle East—is the fantasy that one more war will put an end to wars. The path to peace must be a path of peace.

Signed by:Rabbi Michael Lerner, Sister Joan Chittister, and Professor Cornel West,Co-chairs of the Network of Spiritual Progressives (NSP): info@spiritualprogressives.org

If you like what you read and agree with this agreement please go to the http://www.tikkun.org/ website or this link and sign the petition.

and

Gush Shalom published this in Ha'aretz on Dec 30, 2008

CEASE FIRE NOW!
This war is inhuman, unnecessary and harmful. Nothing good for Israel will come out of it!
The killing of hundreds of Palestinians and the destruction of the infrastructure of life in the Gaza Strip are abominable acts. Those who hope to reap electoral profits from them are greatly mistaken.
A ground invasion will cause even greater harm, destroy what is left in Gaza and cause many casualties – Israelis and Palestinians, soldiers and civilians.
If, after hard battles, the Israeli army will succeed in conquering the ruins of Gaza, the result will be, at most, to drive Hamas underground and to increase their influence both in the Gaza Strip and in the West Bank.
The attack, which has already deepened the hatred, will
AROUSE the entire civilized world against us,
RAISE all over the region a new generation that will hate the State of Israel even more,
INCREASE the impact of Hamas,
UNDERMINE even more the position of peace-seeking Palestinians,
PREVENT Palestinian unity, without which there can be no peace.
On behalf of thousands of Israelis who have demonstrated in the streets of Tel-Aviv within hours after the start of the war, we demand:
To stop at once the attack on Gaza!
To propose - and to maintain - a cease-fire that will include the end off all violent actions by both sides, a real opening of the border crossings and the termination of the blockade against the population of the Gaza Strip.
To start a dialogue with Hamas. Hamas is an integral part of Palestinian society and the Palestinian political system. Without their participation, all negotiations and agreements are meaningless.
[signed] Gush Shalom
P.O.Box 3322, Tel-Aviv 61033 --- info@gush-shalom.org --- www.gush-shalom.org

The only democratic country in the middle east?

2009-01-13T11:07:00.000-08:00

This is disgraceful
w w w . h a a r e t z . c o m

Last update - 01:58 13/01/2009

Israel bans Arab parties from running in upcoming elections
By Shahar Ilan and Roni Singer-Heruti, Haaretz Correspondents and The Associated PressThe Central Elections Committee (CEC) yesterday banned the Arab parties United Arab List-Ta'al and Balad from running in next month's parliamentary elections amid accusations of racism from Arab MKs. Both parties intend to challenge the decision in the Supreme Court. Members of the CEC conceded yesterday that the chance of the Supreme Court's upholding the ban on both parties was slim. Arab faction delegates in the CEC walked out of the hall before the vote, shouting, "this is a fascist, racist state." As they walked out, CEC deputy chairman MK David Tal (Kadima) and the Arab delegates pushed each other and a Knesset guard had to intervene and separate them. The CEC voted overwhelmingly in favor of the motions, accusing the country's Arab parties of incitement, supporting terrorist groups and refusing to recognize Israel's right to exist. The requests to ban the Arab parties were filed by two ultra right parties Yisrael Beiteinu and National Union-National Religious Party. Senior Labor Party figures lashed out at the party's CEC representative, Eitan Cabel, who voted in favor of banning the two Arab parties. "[MK] Shelly Yachimovich and I thought we must object to the move to ban the Arab lists for reasons of freedom of expression," said Social Affairs Minister Isaac Herzog. "The minority's right to be heard must be preserved," he said. MK Ophir Pines (Labor) said from overseas that he strongly objected to Labor's stance in the vote and that it was not the position that had been agreed on. Labor chairman Ehud Barak, however, did not comment on the vote and his aides said he would not deal with political issues these days. Cabel tried to explain his support of the ban, despite Labor's decision to vote against it. "It's true we said we wouldn't ban, but [Balad leader MK Jamal] Zahalka's statement that he was in touch with Bishara led me to think that we must draw the line somewhere," he said. "I'm making no apologies because I fight more than most in the Knesset for equal rights for Arabs. I know it won't stand up in the Supreme Court, and rightly so, because there is no evidentiary basis for the [committee's] decision." Members of the the new Meretz alignment reacted angrily to the decision. "Labor and Kadima's position is a declaration of war on Israel's Arab citizens," a party member said. "Do Barak and Livni really prefer blocking Israel's Arabs' right to parliamentary activity and driving them to street demonstrations?" "Every time a clear statement to ensure basic civil rights of the Arab minority is required, Labor and Kadima choose to side with the radical right wing for populist motives, to deprive the Arabs of their fundamental democratic rights," party chairman Haim Oron said. Arab lawmakers Ahmed Tibi and Zahalka, political rivals who head the two Arab blocs in the Knesset, joined together in condemning yesterday's decision. "It was a political trial led by a group of fascists and racists who are willing to see the Knesset without Arabs and want to see the country without Arabs," said Tibi.

My ramblings

2009-01-12T16:38:00.000-08:00

Let me set one thing straight before I go into my post, being pro Palestinian does not mean that I support Hamas.

The war against Gaza has so upset and depressed me, with over 900 people killed and thousands injured and the poor humanitarian conditions on the ground, not to mention the emotional damage that is being thrown at these people. How can Israel possibly think that this is going to bring them peace is beyond my belief. You really want to do a Gilda Radner and literally bang them on the side of the head and yell "SNAP OUT OF IT"!!

Was listening to democracy now and caught an interview with former Clinton counsel, Lanny Davis of Israel now and Neve Gordon, professor at Ben Guron university and have to say that everything that the professor said was right on. We need more people that are in charge like him the professor. It is insulting for Lanny Davis who doesn't live over there to assume he knows how things should be and I believe professor Gordon is more in touch since he lives there.

Obviously there were many factors to this war then just Hamas but also the political posturing by the different parties to get in power. Jon Stewart gave a light hearted reason behind this assault and he was excuse the pun, dead on.

All I know is that as an Israeli citizen who is a Palestinian that wants Israel to stay safe this has been very hard to watch. All I see are the Palestinians that are being killed by Israel with American made weapons and it is dispicable because in the end Israel is hurting herself. All this does is revive old hatred not just by Palestinians but by its arab neighbors as well which judging by the cartoons that have been sent to me always depicting Israel and the US as the killers of children and they can be gross. Here is one of many cartoons that I have seen. Please tell me how this helps with their making peace with their neighbors?

By the way, Dennis Kucinch was on the same program and he gave a great speech on the senate floor here , that resonates with me because as Jon Stewart points out in the video above how the US does not help in these relations, they cannot even show empathy for the lives of children killed in this "war" which numbers in over 240 "terrorist children". I could easily post pictures here but they just sicken me too much.

Professor Gordon is one of my new heroes and we need more like him. Am going to look up any organization that he is involved in any see what I can do.

Playing with my new camera

2009-01-11T21:19:00.000-08:00

Shot these videos with my new camera while on the way up to and back from mom's house this weekend. So, please enjoy this idle entertainment (if you can call it that):

Tour guide Barbie (not)

Back in L.A.

The devil's in the details

2009-01-09T09:59:00.000-08:00

We got into an interesting discussion yesterday on Lirun's blog in regards to the pro-Israel vs. pro-Gaza rallies that are occurring worldwide. Lirun and others expressing anger and astonishment over the number of pro-Gaza rallyists while asking " where were you when hamas was scouring gaza and mass murdering fatah members... where was your undeniable sense of justice when they were purely aggressive and where has it disappeared to now that things are more complex and you have a nation returning fire against a terror oranisation that has openly stated that it seeks our destruction..."

Alternatively, in regards to the pro-Israel rallies, Halla asks, "does pro-Israel = pro-war??"

My thoughts - not exactly, and not even necessarily. Within Israel, I see her loyal citizens vigorously debating and protesting for and against the war. But outside of Israel, if you choose to demonstrate publicly, you are given a stark choice; you're either for Israel or against it, at least, by outward appearances. I think that the pro-Israel demonstrators in the U.S. do not necessarily discern between is war right or wrong, but rather, they are acting (or reacting) in defense of Israel's existence. And I understand the threat that they perceive. If you look at the websites of activist groups like A.N.S.W.E.R. coalition and others that organize these pro-Gaza rallies, it only takes a minute to see past the humanitarian cause straight down the slippery slope to the evil-racist-Zionist-empire rhetoric. The basic ideology of groups like these is that Israel is a bastard country that was created by illegitimate means and should have never existed - harsh paraphrasing but that's how I read it. From a Palestinian perspective - especially those that are refugees - I can somewhat understand, although, I know it's not the whole story and I will never subscribe to this perspective. I'm not trying to villainize all of the pro-Palestinian activists either. From the people I've met, seen and heard in these various groups, I found a mix of the following: 1. Palestinians and Arabs with different political opinions, all with grave concern for their people, and most of whom want peace - and they carry with them, a lot of pain, anger, and resentment (some from real life events/history and some perpetuated and exploited by politics. Have those of us on the pro-Israeli side ever been politically exploited? ~ This is NOT a rhetorical question, merely food-for-thought), 2. Jew-haters. I hate to say it but they are there, lurking in the shadows. One time, I followed along with an on-line discussion and someone made a blatant hateful comment then someone piped up to condemn them. My other experience was an e-mail that had a link to a blog, which had a link to a website that was clearly anti-Semitic so it was like second-hand hatred(?), and 3. Activists who are not Palestinian, nor Arab, nor Israeli, nor Jewish, nor are they innately anti-Semitic, but they've latched on to this cause in support of Palestinian human rights and then get sucked in to the we-hate-Israel way of thinking without seeing the whole picture. It's as if they've decided to take sides in a fight instead of remaining neutral and trying to bring the two waring factions together (conversely, I know people who are neither Israeli, nor Jewish, nor Palestinian, nor Arab - who staunchly support Israel and express intolerance and insensitivity towards the Palestinians. Go figure!).

I held a stiff lip and sighed when Halla confirmed that she was going to a pro-Gaza demonstration in front of the Israeli consulate, but I understood. I know she loves Israel, but she cries for her people and needs to stand with them. So, Halla, let me play devil's advocate and suggest that you are a lot like some of the pro-Israel rallyists on the opposite side of the street; you don't buy into the we-hate-Israel politics but you go to stand with your people, and the pro-Israeli rallyists don't like war but go out of concern for the Israel's mere existence... and to stand with their people.

Joint Statement

2009-01-07T14:42:00.000-08:00

We've been MIA for a while - perhaps a small cease-fire of our own. Mostly, I've been working and doing family stuff including helping my sister and nephew move out here from Colorado :-) and going on frequent visits to my mom's up north in central California. Halla was busy working for the Obama campaign (THANK YOU!) and planning her next strategic career move (something in politics, perhaps??). Of course, recently, our attention has been drawn to the escalation of violence in Israel & Gaza. Halla, undoubtedly, has been sickened by the news, which prompted her to take part in a demonstration for the people in Gaza while I stayed home and quietly signed cease-fire petitions.

I was driving home from work yesterday while listening to All Things Considered on NPR when I hear the voice of Eric Yellin, also known as blogger "Hope Man" from Sderot, Israel, talking about his friend "Peace Man" from Gaza and their blog, Life must go on in Gaza and Sderot (aka 2 friends from Gaza & Sderot - see Related Links to the lower right of this site). This was the first time I had heard him use his real name, and my ears perked up as if he held the allure of a rock star. I grabbed my cell phone and called Halla (using my hands-free device, of course, in full compliance with recent California State Law). We chatted about the blog and how ugly these politics can get. But, what is so uplifting about the bloggers from Gaza & Sderot, is that they're kinda like us and so many others - Israelis and Palestinians, Arabs and Jews, that are friends - despite our different political, religious, or tribal affiliations. We all need the same things: a safe place to call home where our children can play and learn.

Over the past several months, I have been receiving e-mails from J-Street, a new pro-Israel/pro-peace lobbyist group in Washington, and continue to find myself aligned with their views. The following is a piece written by Jeremy Ben-Ami, the executive director of J-street, in response to an op-ed by Rabbi Eric Yoffe. Ben-Ami always seems to capture my thoughts and express them so eloquently. I shared this with Halla and her response was, "We should put this on the blog as a joint statement from both of us." I agreed.

Statement in response to Rabbi Eric Yoffie’s Comments in the Forward on December 31
Posted by: Jeremy Ben-Ami | January 4th, 2009 10:37 am

J Street takes serious issue with Rabbi Eric Yoffie’s op-ed in the December 31st Forward, in which he attacks us for questioning the wisdom of the Gaza assault.Our position on the crisis reflects our support for Israel, our hope for its security and our sympathy with the ongoing suffering of the people on both sides in this conflict. It is hard for us to understand how the leading reform rabbi in North America could call our effort to articulate a nuanced view on these difficult issues “morally deficient.” If our views are “naïve” and “morally deficient”, then so are the views of scores of Israeli journalists, security analysts, distinguished authors, and retired IDF officers who have posed the same questions about the Gaza attack as we have.

And, when tens of thousands of pro-Israel American Jews are joining with statements made by J Street, Americans for Peace Now, Brit Tzedek, Israel Policy Forum and others calling for a ceasefire – it is simply wrong to call these views out of touch with Jewish sentiment.

American Jews are, as Rabbi Yoffie says, by and large sensible and centrist, and they support Israel in her hour of need. But many of those same Jews – and their friends who want the best for Israel – are well within their rights and within the centrist mainstream to question the wisdom of the actions taken this week, to question where they will lead and to ask the US and others to help bring an end to the violence as quickly as possible.

They are also in line with many in Israel, where on Friday, 30 peace organizations (including the Peres Center for Peace, the Geneva Initiative and Peace Now) signed a public call for an immediate ceasefire, joining such pillars of the national conscience as David Grossman and Amos Oz.

J Street understands that Hamas is a terrorist organization and a harsh enemy. We are neither dovish nor pacifist, nor are we blindly opposed to the use of force. We support Israel in defending and protecting its citizens from attack, including through military action if necessary and appropriate to the threat. We believe, however, that force cannot be Israel’s only or preponderant response – even to Hamas.

We are pragmatists grounded in the real world and the lessons it teaches. As such – and as avid supporters of Israel – we are asking whether the specific actions taken by Israel in Gaza actually do advance Israel’s and America’s interests. In this case, J Street believes they do not. We believe that the actions taken this week – disproportionate to the threat and escalatory in nature – will be seen, with time, as counterproductive. They will further isolate Israel and the US internationally, deepen hatred among the Palestinian and Israel peoples, foment extremism throughout the Arab world and undercut the position of more moderate Arab regimes

Further, we have asked from the first day of this operation, for clarity as to Israel’s exit strategy. An operation of this scale is easy to start, but far more difficult to wind down successfully. The alternatives without a ceasefire – ongoing Israeli reoccupation of Gaza, re-imposition by force of Fatah rule or international/Arab forces taking over – all are either undesirable or unrealistic.

J Street believes the only option at this point for Israel and the U.S. is to work urgently and immediately to achieve a ceasefire now that stops the violence, ends the rockets and eases the blockade of Gaza, rather than allowing a ground campaign to proceed. Perhaps if similar calls had been made – and heeded – in the first week of the Lebanon War in 2006, much of the damage and loss in the conflict could have been avoided.

Anshel Pfeffer, correspondent for Ha’aretz, portrayed the debate within the Jewish community outside Israel today slightly differently than Rabbi Yoffie. To him, the three parties to the debate are, first, the “large number of Pavlovian flag-wavers, good and innocent Zionists and Jews who see only the trauma inflicted on the people of Sderot, Ashkelon and other parts of the country’s south-west” and, second, those on the far left who feel “compelled to atone for Israel’s manifold sins and join its enemies in the demonstrations and sign petitions accusing the Zionist entity of war crimes.”

Then, says Pfeffer, there is a

“third stream of Jews - perhaps not the widest one, but I believe quite significant - who have more complex and uncomfortable feelings on the matter. They care deeply for Israel and understand even why its government felt compelled to launch the devastating Operation Cast Lead, but they are extremely disturbed and hurt by the level of civilian deaths and destruction that almost seems part and parcel of the action. Surely, they say, there must, there has to be another way of doing this. And they live with those doubts, often unexpressed, even among families and close friends because the worst thing they find is that others around them don’t seem to discern between the different nuances, and can’t find in themselves compassion for the dead and wounded on the other side. They begin asking themselves very awkward questions: Are they surrounded by latent racists, or is something wrong with them that denies the feelings of certainty of those around them? Or does everyone have similar doubts but are simply afraid to express them?”

J Street proudly identifies itself as swimming in this third, centrist stream. The only difference: we are unwilling to leave our doubts unexpressed. The views we hold may not be those of Rabbi Yoffie, and that’s fine. We accept and welcome an open and honest debate about the merits of our pro-Israel positions.

But to call our views “morally deficient”, “naïve” and “out of touch” with Jewish sentiment is to misread the emerging dynamics of centrist, pro-Israel Jews.

J Street is very grateful to Rabbi Yoffie for the important leadership he has demonstrated over the years in speaking out on controversial and complex issues. We look forward to continuing this conversation with respect for each other’s support for Israel and for our differences on how best to move forward.

CHANGE OF DATE for Olive Tree Student Initiative

2008-07-22T23:41:00.000-07:00

again... passing this on in regards to the fund raising dinner for the Olive Tree Student Initiative (see previous post)...

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Please note that we have postponed our community dinner from July 24th to July 31st. We apologize if this change in the date has caused any inconvenience for you. Please RSVP your attendance to Sunny Zia at 949-933-0343, or Sunny.Zia@gmail.com

We appreciate your support and look forward to seeing you on Thursday, July 31st at 6 P.M. in the Las Lomas Community Park located at 10 Federation Way, Irvine, CA 92603.

Thank you,

Sunny Zia, on behalf of Humanity Unites

The Olive Tree Student Initiative

2008-07-15T16:47:00.000-07:00

Passing on this announcement... if you live in the Socal region, please consider attending this dinner fundraising event. If you do not live in the area but would like to support the Olive Tree Student Initiative or get more information, please contact Sunny Zia (see contact info. below):

In light of our work with the students at University of California, Irvine, including the Muslim and Jewish Students, Humanity Unites is pleased to host a dinner fundraising event for the Olive Tree Students Initiative on Thursday, July 24^th.

The Olive Tree Initiative was inspired by UCI students who feel the need to gain individual perspectives and insights into the Israel Palestine conflict by traveling to the region in September 2008. Among the diverse students making this trip are Jews, Muslim and Christians who are equally passionate about the events taking place in the region.

Humanity Unites is committed to bring value to our community in specific and measurable means. Therefore, in addition to supporting our students and due to the increasing job loss in our communities, we are dedicating the second part of the evening, to our newly added segment of "Needs and Wants" of the community.

This segment is added to create networking opportunities for our guests. We will announce the current available job/business opportunities that may be of value to the community.

Where:

Las Lomas Community Park

10 Federation Way

Irvine, CA 92603

When: Thursday, July 24^th

Time: 6 P.M. to 9 P.M.

Fee: A minimum contribution of $20 per person for the Olive Tree Initiative is appreciated.

Please RSVP your attendance as soon as possible and no later than Thursday, July 17^th to Sunny.Zia@gmail.com or 949.933.0343, as space is limited.

We look forward to seeing you,

The Humanity Unites Team

Fun and games, red and blue style

2008-07-12T15:28:00.000-07:00

My co-worker, whom I've worked with for many years, is a staunch Republican.

I'm a Democrat, or at least, I'm registered that way.

A few days ago, Co-worker R was pleased to hear that the media networks are a bit flustered over Barak Obama's plan to deliver his acceptance speech for the Democratic nomination at Mile High Stadium. Correction: Mile High Stadium is now called INVESCO Field - whatever. This move, from the convention's week-long site at Denver's Pepsi Center to the much larger Mile High Stadium, has created a financial and logistical snafu for the networks, which may result in limited coverage of the event. Limited coverage of Obama!?! This made him giddy. R poked fun at the thought of up to 75,000 screaming, cheering - and possibly weeping - fans/supporters all clamoring over the "superstar" candidate's acceptance speech, or as he called it, "His Coronation". I went to Obama's website to find more information. An almost ethereal family portrait appears on the initial screen where you are asked to input your e-mail address and zip code. I found a button on the lower right hand side that allowed me to proceed without entering any information, otherwise my in-box would inevitably be loaded up with election spam and never ending pleas for donations. Once I got past the pearly gates, I was confronted with Obama's words, "I'M ASKING YOU TO BELIEVE. Not just in my ability to bring about real change in Washington... I'm asking you to believe in yours." Dude... that's heavy. I clicked the Open Convention button and found details about a contest. Get this - Anyone who donates $5 or more will be entered in a drawing where you could be 1 of 10 supporters "chosen" to fly to Denver and meet Barack backstage! Wow! Stars in my eyes! I couldn't resist - I had to show R just to antagonize him. With both of us looking at my computer screen, I read the last sentence out loud: Make a donation now and you could have a front row seat to history. At this, R walked away, arms flailing upwards as he mocked, "Oh yeah! It's gonna be like the second coming of Christ!" he, he, he, he... I'm still laughing.

Later, I checked out John McCain's website to see what kind of fun and games they've got. At the top of the initial page you can select which type of "JohnMcCain.com edition" you want to read. Choose from: the Supporter edition, the Undecided edition, or the Unregistered Voter edition. Choices are good, right? But be careful! I learned the hard way that once you "choose" your edition, they give you what they want you to read and you are not allowed to go back and change your mind! Every time you re-visit the website it recognizes your computer and you can only view the edition that you originally selected. It's like government computer-tapping. But don't worry about that. On the left-hand side of the screen, try clicking or placing your cursor over the arrows and watch the graphics below rotate like a Las Vegas slot machine. Dude, that's cool! There's lots of pictures of John's wife, Cindy McCain. omg She's so pretty - just the type you want for a First Lady. I wonder if she gets Botox? And for your youngsters (or just the young at heart) they have a game you can play called Pork Invaders. To play, use your right and left arrow buttons to move McCain back and forth across the bottom of the screen while piggies continually drop little arrows from above. Use the space bar to fire back with Vetoes that will blast those little piggies into oblivion. Blast away, young Americans, blast away! But you've got to be quick or McCain will disintegrate into a pile of yellow dust. I've played several times and I'm up to level 3! My 11-year old would be really proud of me. So who really cares about those boring choices when you've got a cool computer game to keep you busy?

Several years ago, my boss, a born bred and raised Republican had set out on a mission to try and convert me, politically speaking. We got onto a conversation about our family backgrounds and where they were from. When I told him that my mother grew up in L.A. around the Hollywood area and my father's side of the family all live in the San Francisco bay area, he shook his head and said, "There's no hope for you". ;-)

A friend of mine sent this e-mail. I have to admit that while I don't really want to run the country, there's something about #5 that definitely applies to me. And to all of my family in the bay area, I apologize. Enjoy ~

Newspaper Hierarchy

The Wall Street Journal is read by the people who run the country.
The Washington Post is read by people who think they run the country.
The New York Times is read by people who think they should run the country, and who are very good at crosswords.
USA Today is read by people who think they ought to run the country but don't really understand the Washington Post. They do, however, like their statistics shown in pie charts.
The Los Angeles Times is read by people who wouldn't mind running the country, if they could spare the time, and if they didn't have to leave L.A. to do it.
The Boston Globe is read by people whose parents used to run the country and did a far superior job of it, thank you very much.
The New York Daily News is read by people who aren't too sure who's running the country, and don't really care as long as they can get a seat on the train.
The New York Post is read by people who don't care who's running the Country, as long as they do something really scandalous, preferably while intoxicated.
The San Francisco Chronicle is read by people who aren't sure there is a country .... or that anyone is running it; but whoever it is, they oppose all that they stand for. There are occasional exceptions if the leaders are handicapped minority feminist atheist dwarfs, who also happen to be illegal aliens from ANY country or galaxy as long as they are Democrats.
The Miami Herald is read by people who are running another country but need the baseball scores.
The National Enquirer is read by people trapped in line at the grocery store.

HAPPY 4TH OF JULY !

2008-07-04T23:00:00.000-07:00

Ipod listening

2008-07-03T21:16:00.000-07:00

Got an Ipod for my birthday in December and now earbuds are constantly sticking out of my ears, love to download books and podcasts, especially podcasts. I catch up on the news allot that way. So here I am shopping for my 4th of July barbecue and am listening to a lecture by President Jimmy Carter at the American University in Cairo (I downloaded it a long time ago and had so many other things to listen to first) describing his meetings with Anwar Sadat and Menachem Begin which lead to the Camp David accords and I loved it.
If you are interested here is the article then go down to the bottom of the article and listen to the lecture which includes the question and answer sessions.
Very informative, you can see that he is truly a great man of peace.

What do I say?

2008-07-02T12:26:00.000-07:00

I often struggle with whether or not to post a current news event, especially those that are either provocative or deeply emotional. On one hand, I hesitate because I don't want to merely echo and inflame the news that we hear, which may only deepen the divide and inadvertantly cause more harm than good. On the other hand, if I don't, people who visit this site may think it has fallen on deaf ears or that I am completely out-of-touch. The title above is a link to today's article in the L.A. Times.

I was on my way to work this morning when I heard the news brief about the man in J'lem that used a bulldozer to flip over a bus, kill a woman in a car, and run over pedestrians before he was killed by police. What do I say? So much pain. I don't know anything about him or his backround or why he chose to do this. I don't know anything about the victims. Only that they were people with families and friends that cared about them. With sadness I will say that my thoughts are with thier families and all of those affected.

Woohoo Cactus Pears are here

2008-07-01T07:08:00.000-07:00

I went to the local market the other day and lo and behold they had Saaber (arabic) Sabra (hebrew) or cactus/prickly pears in english.

These little pears are sweet and juicy with little seeds in them that you have to learn how to swallow.

They bring back so many memories for me. You see my grandfather used to have them growing surrounding his property, so every morning he would go out and pick them in heavy duty gloves because of the cactus needles sticking out of them (thank God they clean them up now before they sell them) he would cut them open for us and the would be so juicy and cold, it was our ritual whenever we visited him.

It's very easy to cut the pear, cut both ends off and make a slit on top and peel it away. There are basically two types of pears, Green and red. Personally prefer the green ones but both are delicious.

Was happy to learn from my coworker (after I turned her on to them) last year that these little fruits are very nutritious, low cal , anti oxident and used for cancer prevention.

After learning about all those facts it justified having one more to eat!!

California Dreamin'

2008-06-29T16:20:00.000-07:00

It's been a while since I last wrote. Writing must be something like exercise - the longer you're away from it, the harder it is to get going again. A family member asked if the speaker at UCI had really gotten to me. Yes. But that wasn't going to stop me from writing - I certainly wasn't going to let him have the last word! Conveniently, my son's baseball schedule became very hectic at that time and I had family coming into town. It was a good excuse to take a break. A few quiet days went by - maybe a week - after Halla wrote her last post, which normally would have been filled with our usual banter, and I listened to her voice mail message, "I hope I didn't come on too strong with what I wrote," and an e-mail... you've been quiet lately. I explained, I'm on hiatus for a while, and confessed that I hadn't read her post.

For almost 4 weeks, I tuned out. No news, no blogs, no TV... except old re-runs of stuff my son likes to watch like The George Lopez Show, Home Improvement, and The Fresh Prince of BelAir. Now, school is out, Little League season is over, baseball summer camp has begun, and the beach calls. Oh... and speaking of school, I must brag! My son got an honor award in science for his science fair project. He built a hover craft (with dad's help) out of plywood, a plastic tarp, some screws, lots of duct tape, and a shop vac. It held over 200 pounds before it busted. Great fun! Last weekend we broke records on the west coast with soaring temperatures over 100 degrees. It's too early in the season for that kind of heat! Ugh! So, I spent last weekend (Saturday and Sunday) at the beach - can you tell?

Shavuot and Father's Day came and went. Did some cooking on Father's Day, and since Father's Day is all about honoring the men in our lives, I think this calls for man-food. And nothing says man-food better than good hearty cowboy grub. You know what I mean; slow-cooked bar-be-que beef short ribs, rich smoky baked beans, maybe some cornbread. This bean recipe is so good and so easy. An old friend of ours made these beans. You'll see that I've listed the ingredients just how he makes it and then, in parenthesis, are the substitutions that I use because I don't eat pork. I've had it both ways and I think the substitutions work just fine. Explanation: I grew up in a family that did not observe any of the kosher dietary laws, we ate everything. So, I used to eat pork but I gave it up about 5 or 6 years ago. I don't really care for the taste or smell of pork so it was no great loss. My decision to give it up was not because I think it's wrong (if you choose to eat meat, I don't think there's any difference between eating pork vs. beef or chicken, etc.) or necessary, but rather, it became apparent that this would be a nice way for me to maintain a tradition and honor my heritage.

Marc's Beans

1 lb. ground beef
1 package bacon (or turkey bacon) cut into small pieces
1 onion, chopped
1 Cup brown sugar
1 Cup ketchup
1 capful of vinegar
Dash of liquid smoke
4 small cans (15 oz) pork and beans (or Heinz vegetarian beans in tomato sauce)
2 small cans (15 oz) kidney beans
1 can (15 oz) butter beans

Brown the ground beef in a pan along with the onion. Cook the bacon (or turkey bacon) separately. Drain the kidney and butter beans. Throw everything into a crock pot or slow cooker and stir gently to combine all ingredients. Cook on high for 2 hours. You can serve with sour cream at the table if you like.

I did eventually read Halla's last post and I finally started reading my e-mails again. I admit there are times when this endeavor (blog) is a challenge. Sometimes, Halla writes things that make my eyes open wide and my heart rate go up and I have to take a day or two to work through it and avoid a knee-jerk reaction. It's so easy to fall into that retaliatory trap, but whether we're comparing IDF military actions, or the brutality of a few idiots, or the ongoing randomness of katusha rockets and threats by outside militant groups and political leaders, there's one thing we agree on. It's a tit for tat game that goes nowhere.

It's amazing how much you miss when you're unplugged, or on the contrary, how overloaded we allow ourselves to get when we are plugged in. The news floated by like I was slowly waking up from a dream: Obama, McCain, floods in the mid-west, gas prices, the unsettling story from Halla's post, Israel talking to Syria & Hamas, and a truce?... the debate over oil drilling off the coast, and Bush's appointed "activist" Supreme Court justices (yes, I am using the president's own rhetoric and turning it around on him) made an historic and biased interpretation of our constitution's 2nd amendment resulting in a quite unnecessary ruling!*!%!! I think I'm awake now.

Email

2008-05-31T14:05:00.000-07:00

A friend of a friend recently forwarded an email by a woman whose town was hit by a rocket and described how it could have been her since it was near the mall and how every time they go into an Israeli mall purses have to be opened for weapons before they enter (I have experienced that). While it is sad that people have to live like that and I do think that is very wrong, but for every awful thing that Israelis are going thru I can forward 10 more items that Palestinians are going thru perptrated by the Israeli government and Palestinians do not have the luxury of going to a mall!

Both sides are suffering and doing a tit for tat and justifying every action will that make it okay when the next violence occurs! There are innocent Jews and Palestinian on both sides of the fence that are going thru horrendous conditions, Gaza is slowly being starved and is literally imprisoned with their borders and are not allowed come and go from one country to another.

But when a group of young people feel that they are better than the other and feel justified in attacking innocent young people for no other reason but the fact that they are who they are then humanity is lost and their is no hope for the future.

Thank God there were cameras otherwise it would not have been believed!

P.S. Laura, I read the Kite Runner and while it was great book by Khaled Hosseini, I feel his other book A Thousand Splendid suns is much better!

One Afternoon at UCI

2008-05-22T23:16:00.000-07:00

I live in a place that has given me the luxury of endless optimism. One short afternoon last week at the University of California, Irvine campus (UCI) was all it took to dampen that outlook. To those in my community who held their tongue with great restraint and gently encouraged me to go and learn, I humbly say, now I know why.

This was a long awaited visit. Every year at this time, the Muslim Student Union at UCI puts on a week-long demonstration complete with elaborate displays, props, and there are different speakers every day at noon and 8 p.m. I’d never been, but had heard about it from friends and the media so I was intent on going this year - plus I had made a promise to my rabbi last fall and also to O., student president of MSU, that I would go.

I met O. and other MSU students at a Humanity Unites meeting back in February. Humanity Unites has taken on the task of mediating “peace talks” between UCI students from MSU and Hillel (the Jewish student organization) and anyone else in the community who wants to come. That first meeting was held in a small conference room at a senior center in Irvine, standing room only. I remember many of the faces that evening; there was O. and many MSU students, and Ms. S. of course with Humanity Unites, there was the Rabbi, the man from the ADL, and the young man standing next to me - a Muslim student who told me how he wished he could join MSU but was too busy with his studies at the time. I remember one Israeli man, a Jewish refugee from the former Soviet Union, who spoke with such a thick Russian accent it was difficult to understand him, but he had so much passion and so much that he wanted to say - they had to keep cutting him off to give others a chance to speak. One lady, a Palestinian, stated that her best friend was Jewish. Another pleaded, “We’re supposed to be cousins”. And another Palestinian woman challenged one of the Israelis, when he said that there were several Muslim countries but only one Jewish state, by arguing that it’s not about religion and questioned, what about the Christian Palestinians who aren’t represented here? (dang it! Where’s Halla when they need her!). One lady, who said she was just a concerned citizen from the local community, stood up to say that she wanted us to know that we are all loved in the eyes of Jesus - a plea of love straight from her heart. Unfortunately, the Hillel students had a scheduling conflict that evening and most of them couldn’t make it. I remember when D., the student president of Hillel, walked in. He and O. locked eyes from across the room and you could have cut the tension in the air with a knife. D. with his arms crossed in front of him charged, “What are you going to call it this year, O.?!” O. tried to avoid the subject with, “I thought we agreed not to talk about that. Why don’t we talk about things we can agree on like human rights?” D. persisted, “What was it called last year, O.?!” Everyone else in the room was silent, then the young man, the Muslim student, standing next to me crossed the room and went to greet D. and shake his hand. O. did finally answer the question, but honestly, I can no longer remember what it was. I believe it was some sort of We-Hate-Israel-Week theme (this year it’s called, Never Again? The Palestinian Holocaust). I had already heard about these kinds of slogans so I was past the shock factor. I left that evening with a sense that despite the anger and passion, there was also an element of camaraderie, something like an old family feud. So back to last week, Thursday, May 18th to be exact…

I wanted to be there to hear the noon-time speaker but ran late because I had to finish up a few last minute things at the office. Then I spent a good 15 or 20 minutes wandering around the sprawling UCI campus trying to find the flagpoles that I had been directed to. I asked a man but he didn’t know of any flagpoles, but he thought I might be looking for the area in front of the administration building so I headed that way. As I got closer, I heard a bellowing voice like the circus had come to town. There was a crowd gathered in circle and in the middle was a man wearing a t-shirt that read “TRUST JESUS” on the back, and “OR BURN IN HELL” on the front. See picture:

I got the back of him but he kept turning around every time I tried to take a picture of the front. He was shouting things about fire and hell and homosexuals and, well, you get the idea. He had a sign set up, too, that basically said the same stuff. It had been a long time since I was on a college campus and I’d forgotten how many freakin’ loons there are that are attracted to these places. This obviously wasn’t the speaker I was looking for but I knew I must be getting close. I spotted a girl there, sitting on the ground listening to the Trust Jesus man and writing notes in a steno pad. Next to her was a guitar case with a Coexist sticker on it, which meant she looked safe to me, so I asked her if she could help me find the flagpoles where the pro-Palestinian speaker was supposed to be. She pointed me in the right direction. Then, nodding towards the Trust Jesus guy, I asked her if they get this kind of entertainment around here daily. Not every day, she said, maybe a couple times a week. Then she told me that she was a Christian and that this man makes her so angry because all he really does is turn people off, but she had to listen because she was writing a paper about him. I wished her good luck and she wished me the same.

I headed on towards the flagpoles. There were several tables set up in this area with different things like a bake sale, a Korean bar-be-que, and the Hillel Anteaters for Israel table that had an Israeli flag and an American flag and a bold yellow sign that read “Hate Speech Zone Ahead”. I had arrived.

Because I was so late, I only caught the last 15 minutes of the speech and then the Q&A session afterwards. It was more than enough. The speaker that day was a guy named, Amir Abdel Malik Ali with his presentation called, Death to Apartheid: A Farewell to Zionism. Like I said, I’ve gotten past the initial shock factor of these kinds of slogans, but I had no idea of how bad it was going to get.

Now, I know that I’m not supposed to judge a book by it’s cover, but I was a little surprised to find that the speaker I came to hear was not Palestinian… nor Israeli. He’s an American man, a former Nation of Islam member, and he spoke of the militant Black Panther movement of the 1960’s in glowing terms…. and that’s just for starters. He also threw in some adoration for the late Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. (too late for winning any brownie points from me - that’s like mixing oil & water). Just when I arrived, he was saying something about the drug culture of the 1960’s and the popularity of cocaine in the 1980’s and how the government or the capitalists(?) subversively entered these drugs into our society so we wouldn’t be able to think and know “the truth” (and I thought I needed therapy). Now, here’s where I really started taking notes. Brace yourself:

He said that Hezbollah and Hamas are freedom fighters. He said that the U.S. and Israel are the terrorists. He said that in 2006, Hezbollah “kicked Israel’s butt” - his words, not mine. Some of the students applauded at this. I felt as if I might vomit. The beating of the war drums continued. He said that Palestinians are stronger than Israelis and when they band together, there’s no way anyone can lose against Muslims. He repeated this, “Palestinians are stronger than Israelis and when they band together, there’s no way anyone can lose against Muslims,” with extra emphasis on the word, Muslims, this time (and where does he see Christians fitting into his little scheme?? I glanced around - there must be a Christian around here somewhere - dang it! Where’s Halla when we need her - and how twisted is this?!?). During the Q&A session, he was asked if he thought it was time for the Palestinians to join in non-violent resistance and he clearly answered, NO. I think I’m gonna be sick. It was enough for this peacenik to want to join up with the IDF. And one more thing; he encourages the students by telling them that if they are thinking differently today (interpretation: if they agree with his ideology), that they will be the leaders of tomorrow just like the civil rights activists of the 60’s became the leaders of today.

When the session ended, the crowd followed and flocked around him and continued to ask him questions. There was a man that stood up and started shouting stuff about turning to Jesus. Not the same guy as before, a different one. Ah! So there’s the Christian, I thought. - no time for jokes. No one was listening to the screaming Jesus guy, they all walked away (too bad, I think I liked him better).

I started heading toward the props and display area. There was an MSU student that I recognized from the Humanity Unites meeting. Tall and graceful, with a beautiful smile and a kind voice, she asked me what I thought of the speech. I didn’t want to say too much, I was still trying to process everything. I told her that I’m a bit of a pacifist and I didn’t like this guy “beating the war drums”. I blabbed on with some lame statement about understanding the argument about the hypocrisy of militarism… but this is not right, I told her. She politely replied, “Well, we each have our own way,” and thanked me for coming. As she was walking away, I asked her what she thought of the speech. She said she loved it.

I tried telling myself that this speaker, the only one I saw, was probably the worst out of the entire weeks worth of them but it was of no consolation to me. I hoped I was overreacting.

The props and display area consists of a make-shift tent city refugee camp and a wall that looks like the separation barrier in Israel decorated with poems, facts & figures about refugees and settlements, pictures of Rachel Corrie alive and dead (she was a 23-yr. old American that went there on a peace mission and lost her life while trying to protect a Palestinian family’s home from being destroyed), and a torn Israeli flag with holes and what appeared to be blood on it. I was standing in front of the wall when I heard something. I looked over to see a mass of students marching straight towards me and chanting something. I had started to feel a bit ornery by this time so I decided NOT to move out of their way. Yep, in an act of defiance, I stood there - all 5 feet and almost 2 inches of me firmly planted on the ground - as they marched around and past me chanting over and over again, “Judaism, Yes! Zionism, No! The State of Israel has got to go!”

The marchers circled around the wall and then stopped. I was standing off to the side at this point when a couple of people from Humanity Unites came up to me. One women, a Palestinian, said how absolutely livid she was over the speech (found this youtube video of her, that day, really laying into him). I commented on how appalled I was that they would dishonor the memory of Dr. Martin Luther King by putting his words on the back of their army green t-shirts and a depiction of a military tank on the front with the words “resist to exist”.
This was not a pro-Palestinian demonstration. It was an anti-Israel demonstration and nothing more. The speaker - honestly, I don’t think he deserves to be addressed by name any longer - is nothing but an egocentric power monger, so full of anger and hate that he exploits the pain of the Palestinian people and feeds off of the passion of these students. He is recruiting for Hamas and Hezbollah - he didn’t exactly state this, but it wasn’t hard to hear the suggestion. At home, I looked up some information about him on the internet and it just got worse (link). Evidently, he’s been making the rounds at college campuses for a while now. According to the information I looked up: he supports suicide bombers, wants Israel and the Jewish people gone from that region and one Muslim state created instead, and he also wants Islamic law in it’s totality implemented here in America. This is a man that has no respect and no tolerance for anyone of a different faith. If anyone has a video or transcript of his full speech from Thursday 5/15/08, please send it to me. In the meantime, I found this on You Tube of his speech at UCI in 2006 ... if you can stomach it.

Now I know why so many people say that Israel has no partner for peace. Now I know why good intentioned people walk away in search of other social action endeavors that are much more realistic, like say, ending world hunger! I’m sorry to sound like such a pessimist. I really enjoy writing and the work of peace activism and connecting with others in the world and I will continue my endeavors in positive, constructive organizations like One Voice and Humanity Unites.

I encourage you, as others did for me, to go and learn. See what these students are hearing and judge for yourself. I believe there is another demonstration similar to this that’s held in the Fall. I’ll keep you posted, or you can go to the UCI MSU website. Just to be clear, I'm don't want to bash on the MSU - they have other purposes that are much more positive. The MSU students I met were bright, kind and articulate, full of promise. I believe most of them are American-born or have been here most of their lives. I can’t say how many of them have family that came from or currently live in the conflict zones, but if most of what they are hearing is of the likes of this man, then what they are hearing is one-dimensional dogma rather than a comprehensive understanding of the full spectrum of the Palestinian people. I wonder how much of this kind of dogma has drifted into other forms of media and activist groups that are considered more tolerable. I wonder how much of this kind of dogma has drifted into my own mind. I am still a novice when it comes to mid-east history and politics, but on my journey of learning, I have met or heard from several, truly peace-minded individuals from places like Gaza, the West Bank, Iran, Israel, and Lebanon. I believe there are many more but their voices are not the ones that are heard. I would like to ask the MSU students to re-think that path they are following. If they are following the likes of this man, I fear it is a path to nowhere. I know that teachings of peace and reconciliation exist within their faith as they do in mine. I would like to tell them to look again at the words of Dr. Martin Luther King and realize the potential of non-violence. I know there is injustice that needs to be made right. I know there are wrongs of the past that can never be made right. But vengeance will not bring lasting peace. I hope, instead, that we can find a way to reconcile and that both nations, Israel and Palestine, will be fully accepted and mutually respected. Together or separate, figure out the political details and learn to peacefully coexist with Jews, Christians, and Muslims, Arabs and non-Arabs. Teach peace.

Sili (The Slap)

2008-05-17T17:42:00.001-07:00

A friend sent this to me. As he put it; Truly Iranian, very funny...

Comments on your last post

2008-05-11T02:18:00.000-07:00

Hey Halla,
Sorry it’s taken me so long to read and process your last post. I decided that my thoughts were too much for the comment section so I am putting them in a post instead. The Ha’aretz article was interesting. There’s a lot of issues here. For one, there’s the issue of the divide (resentment) between Israeli Arabs and their counterparts in the West Bank and Gaza. And then, although living much better lives within Israel, it seems Israeli Arabs are disadvantaged and disenfranchised from the Jewish Israeli majority. Question - which is the more appropriate or desired term: Palestinian Israeli, Israeli Palestinian, or Israeli Arab? What about the Jewish Arab Israelis - do they consider themselves Palestinian? Anyway, moving on… I do not see that the situation is quite the same as the apartheid system that existed in So. Africa. Under apartheid rule, non-whites were stripped of their citizenship and designated to be citizens of one of the Bantustans (something like the Indian reservations) and although many blacks lived in white So. Africa (outside the Bantustans) they were not allowed to vote there. Israeli Arabs do maintain citizenship and, like all Israelis, they have the right to vote. Under apartheid, mixed marriages were prohibited by law as well as sexual relations with a different race. It may be taboo in Israel, but is not against the law. I remember you telling me that you have a Jewish relative in Israel of European decent that married into your family. Under apartheid rule, education, medical care, public places like restaurants, and transportation, were all segregated. Blacks were also prohibited from owning a business in white So. Africa. I have heard about the segregation in the school system in Israel as well as in regards to land allocation, and I understand that you have to be Jewish or Druze to serve in the military. Of course, service in the military there is mandatory - maybe being banned from that isn’t such a bad thing ;-) I have not heard of any type of segregation when it comes to medical care or going to public places or owning a business. Your uncle owns a business, right? In terms of education, I have heard recently that there are now 3 - but only 3 - schools in Israel that have Jewish and non-Jewish students together. What about language? I’ve heard that the Jewish schools teach in Hebrew while the Arab schools teach in Arabic. I know Arabic was your primary language but you also knew Hebrew. Were you taught Hebrew in school or was it something you picked up on the street so-to-speak? I know they do not teach Arabic in the Jewish schools - this is unfortunate and a big mistake in my opinion. A couple of years ago, when I began to hear a lot of the anti-Israel speech, it was you who told me that I should come to Israel and see what it’s really like. It was you who told me to go to your beloved city of Haifa and see how Jews and Arabs live together and get along just fine. This doesn’t sound like apartheid, so what gives? Can you reconcile your statements? An Israeli speaker from Combatants for Peace, who I saw several months ago, described the divisions there as more of a cultural, social, and political divide. In any case, there is obviously much work that needs to be done to provide equity for the Israeli Arab population and to build trust between the two communities. I have heard of some outreach programs there that bring Jewish and Arab youth together to promote understanding and peace like Sulhita and, of course, the One Voice Youth movement. I know these programs won’t fix the political and economic imbalance right now, but the more bridges that can be built, the more chance for building a brighter future for everyone - I really believe this. As far as your young cousin goes, would something like that be of consideration? It might be good for them and for their Jewish counterparts - just a thought.

On a different note, I finally saw The Kite Runner last night. What a heart wrenching, horrible, yet beautifully bittersweet story. A few thoughts I had while watching it:
I am thankful that I never had to experience watching a military tank roll down my street.
I don’t understand how people can treat each other so poorly based on classism or ethnic differences.
I would have loved to see Kabul in its’ good times before the Soviets and the Taliban.
I can’t even speak of the murderous “half-time show” at the soccer game - no words.
I noticed at the wedding, part of the ceremony had the bride and groom taking vows (I think) under a canopy. It is also a Jewish tradition for the bride and groom to marry under a canopy.

Lastly, I learned something new! I recently saw a brochure for the Bilal Learning Center in L.A. - evidently they are raising funds to remodel - that had the words “As-Salaam alaikum” in transliteration but with no definition. I meant to ask you about this because it looks a lot like the Hebrew, “Shalom aleichem” meaning “peace be with you”. They said this phrase, Salaam alaikum, several times in The Kite Runner and with the help of subtitles, I learned it does indeed mean the same thing - peace be with you.
Laura

P.S. Happy Mother's Day, hence, the flowers. (the picture at the top is of the Jacaranda tree in full bloom today in front of my house)

Nothing to Celebrate

2008-05-08T11:13:00.000-07:00

Realistic view of the Israeli Arabs/Palestinians living inside Israel......like it or not we are a minority (this is the reality) at least in the US it is against the law to discriminate against minorities but in Israel it is accepted!

A few years ago I asked one of my young cousins in Israel why he listens to rap music and he responded that they are the "niggers" (his words) of Israel but without the same rights. Arab towns within Israel like Nazareth does not get the funding for road repairs or infrastructure that jewish towns get because the majority are arabs, is that not discrimination? Another cousin told me that Nazareth gets the majority of their money from France and other European countries, what is wrong with that picture?

Is this not Apartheid?

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080507/ap_on_re_mi_ea/israel_at60_the_arabs_2

Israel's Arab minority ambivalent about Independence Day

By DIAA HADID and IAN DEITCH, Associated Press WritersWed May 7, 6:07 PM ET

The highway leading to this Arab town in central Israel was lined with blue-and-white Israeli flags Wednesday to mark the country's 60th Independence Day. But no banners fluttered in Kufr Qassem itself.

Israeli Arabs, who make up a fifth of the population of 7.25 million, weren't celebrating the founding of the Jewish state.

They mix their Arabic with Hebrew and participate in Israel's democracy. But for the most part, they define themselves as Palestinians who live in Israel, and remain a distinct and largely disadvantaged minority.

"It doesn't mean anything to me," Umm Ziad, owner of a bookshop in Kufr Qassem, said of the festivities in the Jewish community of Rosh Haayin just a few hundred yards away. "It's not our party," added the 32-year-old mother of three, dressed in a maroon robe and white veil.
Many Israeli Arabs are torn between two loyalties.

Israel gives them more freedoms than most Arabs have in the Middle East — even though they spent the first 18 years of Israel's history under military rule — and Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza tend to resent them for their more comfortable lives. Yet Israeli Arabs are distrusted by the Jewish majority and have been subjected to decades of official discrimination.

"We are ready to build bridges with parts of the Jewish community, but coexistence can only happen when there are equal rights," said Ahmed Tibi, an Arab member of Israel's parliament and a longtime adviser to the late Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat.
Tibi said Israeli Arabs face unequal treatment in all walks of life, from land allocation to education. He noted only 4 percent of Israel's development budget is spent in Arab communities.

Kufr Qassem, with 20,000 residents, hasn't been allocated an industrial zone, although the mayor, Sami Issa, said he has lobbied for years for the Israeli government to invest in one.
That would help earn tax money to fix the town's bumpy roads and shabby buildings, adorned with garish Arabic and Hebrew signs. The 50,000 people in nearby Rosh Haayin have smooth roads, chic coffee shops, a large industrial district and gleaming buildings that house international companies.

Over the past 60 years, Israel's Arab and Jewish communities have largely remained separate. Intermarriage is taboo, and only a few towns, such as Haifa, Jaffa and Ramle, have mixed populations.

Israeli Arabs are less educated, on average, and earn less than their Jewish counterparts. Arab families are generally larger than Jewish ones, and Israeli Jews fret over statistics that show Israeli Arabs have one of the highest birth rates in the region, ahead of Syria, Jordan, Egypt and Lebanon.

Kufr Qassem, a conservative Muslim town, is considered well off because of its proximity to Tel Aviv, Israel's business capital, which offers plenty of jobs. Residents freely admit economic opportunity is one reason they want to stay in Israel.

They don't like recent talk by hard-line Israeli politicians who want Arab towns in Israel to become part of a future Palestinian state, in a swap for Jewish settlements in the West Bank.
Ismail Issa, 39, a barber and poet who is a distant relative of the mayor, said he would like to see a bi-national country of Arabs and Jews between the Mediterranean and the Jordan River, rather than the separate Jewish and Palestinian states envisioned in current peace efforts.
In the meantime, he said, "I carry an Israeli passport, and I have to respect it."

A monument in Kufr Qassem commemorates the events of 1956 when nearly 50 villagers were shot to death by Israeli border police as they returned home — unaware a curfew had been imposed on Israeli Arabs on the eve of Israel's Sinai campaign.
Every year, thousands of Israeli Arabs gather at the monument, and townspeople frequently refer to the massacre by way of emphasizing that they will stay here, regardless of what happens.

Israeli Arab communities are the remnants of a much larger Arab population that lived in what is now Israel before it became a state.
Hundreds of thousands — estimates range from 650,000 to 1 million — fled the 1948-49 war that erupted over the creation of the Jewish state. About 60 percent of them moved into refugee camps in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, while most of the others scattered among Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon and Iraq. Israel says 160,000 Arabs stayed.

The fate of Israel's growing Arab minority is seen as the key to Israel's future. Further alienation could one day destabilize the Jewish state, while Arab citizens with a sense of belonging could build bridges to Israel's neighbors.
For now, the future doesn't look bright, said Kufr Qassem's mayor, Sami Issa.

"People here, generation after generation, don't have hope, and don't feel like they have a future. That's very dangerous," he said. "If you are full and live next to a hungry man, he might not hurt you today. But he'll hurt you tomorrow."

Copyright © 2008 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. The information contained in the AP News report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without the prior written authority of The Associated Press.

Copyright © 2008 Yahoo! Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Dialog in an alternate universe

2008-05-07T21:39:00.000-07:00

If Social Security is the third rail of American politics, I think the Israeli/Palestinian conflict must be the third rail of dinner conversation in your average American household. In recent weeks, I've been hearing some public voices that acknowledge this, and some that are expressing a more open dialog that gives me some optimism.

On KCRW's To The Point, host Warren Olney interviewed Ori Nir with Americans for Peace Now in regards to former President Carter's visit with Hamas leader Khaled Meshall. Setting aside the issue of Carter's visit, which raised many eyebrows and inundated our media so much that I almost missed the news about Egypt's heavy involvement in negotiating a cease-fire between Israel and the Palestinian factions including Hamas, I appreciated Ori Nir's commentary on the difference in dialog there in Israel as compared to here in the U.S. He equated the dialog here as a "tempest in a teapot" stating that the pragmatic, multi-dimensional debates over there transform into a one-dimensional, dogmatic, placard once they cross the Atlantic and land over here. And, although he was speaking from an Israeli perspective, I hear and see the one-dimensional dogma on the Palestinian side, too. You can hear the interview with Ori Nir here, it's at the end of the show called "Guns: Public Safety and the Second Amendment" so when you go to the link, click on "Listen" and then scroll over to the 43:18 minute mark.

The sad thing is, that beneath all those provocative, dogmatic arguments, are a lot of good people that really care about the human tragedies on both sides.

I haven't formed any concrete attitudes on the new political organization, J Street and J Street PAC, that have come on the scene lately as an alternative to the Washington lobbyist group AIPAC, but this article written by J Street Executive Director Jeremy Ben-Ami that appeared in The Jewish Daily Forward struck a chord with me. Echoing a similar tone to Ori Nir, it states,
'... American politics moves in a parallel, disconnected universe when it comes to the Middle East. Here, being “pro-Israel” requires only mouthing scripted talking points about staunch support for Israel, the special American–Israeli relationship and the shared bond in the war on terrorism.
For the sake of Israel, the United States and the world, it is time for American political discourse to re-engage with reality. Voices of reason need to reclaim what it means to be pro-Israel and to establish in American political discourse that Israel’s core security interest is to achieve a negotiated two-state solution and to define once and for all permanent, internationally recognized borders.
For me, this isn’t just an abstract issue of politics or public policy. It is rooted in my family’s history and a generations-long search for safety and for a home for the Jewish people....
... Somehow, for American politicians or activists to express opposition to settlement expansion — or support for active American diplomacy, dialogue with Syria or engagement with Iran — has become subversive and radical, inviting vile, hateful emails and a place on public lists of Israel-haters and antisemites. For the particularly unlucky, it leads to public, personal attacks on one’s family and heritage.
Enough.'

And in this op-ed piece from The Christian Science Monitor, author Helena Cobban challenges the American superiority complex and at the same time offers reassurance as we enter the age of globalization in what she calls "America's Apartheid Mentality Toward the World."

And here's something really different: U.S. Representative and former Presidential candidate, Dennis Kucinich, made this statement on the House floor in which he both celebrates Israel's 60th anniversary and acknowledged Israel's right to defend herself but, mostly, took the time to give acknowledgment and express concern regarding the plight of the Palestinian people and he urged open dialog.

And in this alternative cyber-universe, I've been following the bloggers at Life must go on in Gaza and Sderot and I wrote this to Peace Man, the blogger from Gaza (you can read it under the comments section in this link but I've copied it here because I'm sure you're tired of links by now):
Dear Peace Man,
I am an American Jew and I often hear the attitude that the Palestinian people and surrounding Arab countries really do not want peace. I am sure that there are a lot of power games being played by the leaders and various ruling factions, but I truly believe that the people - most Palestinians and most Israelis - want peace. Even considering the difficult history of Israel and Palestine and all of the resentment that goes with that, I still believe that the majority of the people on both sides would be willing to coexist in peace if only given a way. Would you agree? If so, my question to you is; how can we help - as individuals and nations - to empower the peaceful majorities of Palestinians and Israelis?
It's a broad, simple-minded question, I suppose, but I needed to ask it. I needed to hear it from him, a Palestinian living in a Gazan refugee camp. Here is his response:
I do believe that’s the majority in both side want peace ,but they need power. what we need from you is to tell your friend about our story in the world d need to know that’s there people want to live in peace doesn’t matter the nationality, all of us is human.

This reminded me of a conversation I once had with my Palestinian friend from Lebanon. He asked me if I thought the Palestinian people were deserving of having their own state. At the time, I knew next to nothing about the conflict and the proposed two-state solution, and I think I responded with "I dunno. Sure, if that's what you want," and then naively asked, "Why can't they just share and live together?"

At this, he scoffed, and said, "No way. They have been killing each other for thousands of years. They hate each other and could never live together!"

His words stung. I questioned with, "But we all live together here?"

He sat silent, looking straight ahead while smoking his cigarette. I waited for an answer. Then he said, "I think it's different when there's peace."

Speaks volumes, doesn't it?

War is STUPID

2008-04-29T16:00:00.001-07:00

Another great read from Uri Avnery! This man just makes too much sense! Please share it with everyone and pass it along!

URI AVNERY COLUMN HERE

Now I know where all the matzo went!

2008-04-27T23:15:00.000-07:00

In my neighborhood, I've gotten used to the fact that, year after year, my local grocery store stocks just barely enough matzo at Passover time. As soon as I see their Passover display go up, I grab the matzo, because when it's gone, it's gone. But when I heard that my friends in the Irvine and Newport Beach area were lucky to grab the last 5-box case of matzo at their local store, I knew something was wrong. Then my brother-in-law came over the other day and asked me if I'd heard about the matzo shortage this year. I had to get to the bottom of this! This article in the L.A. Daily News confirmed it, and while the real food shortages around the world are quite serious, this is just for laughs. My cousin sent me this you-tube video and now I think I know where all the matzo went!

Code Pink

2008-04-26T16:34:00.000-07:00

A Friend of Laura's asked for people to come out to a Code Pink protest last Wednesday and I went along with my daughter and a friend. They hold a peace protest every Wednesday and have to admit that we enjoyed it. My friend & I were discussing how we talk the talk but this was walking the walk, so to speak.

We will definitely be doing it again.

Check out their site....

Halas nimAhs! Halas bekaffi! Enough, we're sick of it!

2008-04-26T06:05:00.000-07:00

Sefi Kedmi, an Israeli youth leader for One Voice, holds a sign that reads Halas NimAhs! meaning, Enough, we're sick of it! Now, don't you think this slogan would be great on t-shirts? Halla suggested a t-shirt with this slogan in Hebrew, Arabic, and English - I agree! We saw this on Lirun's blog, who saw it on Daniel Lubetzky's blog. So, here's a hint... spread the word!

Is tequila kosher for Passover?

2008-04-24T21:36:00.000-07:00

On the 1st night of Passover, we had just a small intimate Seder at home. As part of the Seder, we are to drink 4 glasses of wine, aka "the fruit of the vine", to symbolize the sweetness of freedom. Well, I've got a problem - o.k., I've got a few problems. I love wine but developed an allergy to it about 5 years ago :-( So this leaves me to steal grape juice from the kids table! I miss wine but I don't mind the grape juice so much. I just wish I could partake in some sort of festive adult beverage on these occasions. This brings me to problem #2: during the eight days of Passover, I follow the tradition to abstain from eating or drinking chametz. Explanation (and not a scholarly one!)... from the story of the Exodus, when the slaves were fleeing Egypt they were in such a rush that they didn't have time to let their bread rise so it baked flat like a cracker, hence, matzo! So the only bread we eat during Passover is the unleavened matzo. But, it's not that simple. It's not just matzo vs. bread. There are 5 grains that are to be avoided for these eight days: wheat (except matzo), rye, barley, spelt, and oats. The word, chametz, refers to any food or drink that is forbidden during Passover. What does this have to do with drinks, you ask? Stay with me - I'm getting to that. So my husband and I were trying to think of what festive adult beverage I could have. Vodka, whiskey, beer, gin... nope... all derived from grains and, therefore, not kosher for Passover. We thought about liqueur but, no, too heavy and sweet. Then, from the other room, my 11-yr. old son (who knew he was listening???) asks, "What about tequila?" -- geez! kids... they say the darnedest things, don't they?!? Honestly, I don't know where he gets this stuff from! But, we looked at each other and thought about it. hmmm... tequila comes from the blue agave cactus.... a plant...not a grain... I think that works!!! (disclaimer - I have NOT consulted with my local Rabbi on this) So, my husband came back from the store with flowers... and tequila!! Margaritas, anyone?

I was setup!

2008-04-22T16:20:00.000-07:00

Back & Forth emails...........

Halla: Check out my favorite subject Pollard
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20080422/ts_nm/usa_israel_spy_secret_dc_5

Laura: The statement that "Kadish did not appear to receive any money in exchange for his suspected spying..." shows the kind of passion that he has for Israel.
Well... you might say that the fact that Pollard is serving a life sentance and Israel has unsuccessfully sought his release shows that, perhaps the U.S. isn't quite as biased towards Israel as you might think.
Hey - so where's your post on Allah???

Halla: I find it interesting that Pollard got citizenship 10 years after conviction…..the Allah post is still in progress. Bytw, spell my name backwards and what do you get?

Laura: I guess the citizenship was "payment" for what he did. Maybe they thought that after 10 years, it wouldn't cause such a ruckus.

Laura: allaH !!!!!
Does your name have a meaning?

Halla: My name means welcome. It seems like about every other year when an Israeli prime minister comes to visit they try to free Pollard.

Laura: Welcome - very nice!

Laura: you know, sometimes I think these little back and forth e-mail conversations might make for a good post. Simple, easy, and interesting.. just cut and paste and add in a link. Might be good for opening up further discussion from commentors. What do you think?

Halla: Good idea

Laura: o.k. I say the person that initiates the conversation should be the one to post. So, this one's yours ;-)

Now don't you agree this was a setup????

Hag Sameach, Happy Passover

2008-04-18T16:32:00.000-07:00

Tomorrow night is the 1st night of Passover and I've been thinking all week about what I should write about. Something grand, I thought, because it is such a big and important holiday. I thought that I might explain about the seder and the traditions, and I could go on forever about the food and so many recipes. Or, maybe write about some political event like Israel's closing off of the West Bank today for security reasons in preparation of the holiday. But, writing about all of this seems a bit pompous on this holiday, in which, we are to strip away our ego and remember that "we were once strangers in the land of Egypt" - slaves - and we are no better than the lowliest slave on earth. What work does it take to achieve freedom... freedom within and freedom without? For whom should I speak and what should I say on behalf of those who are not free?

So... for now I will just say hag sameach (happy holiday) - happy Passover.

East Med Sea Peace: peace culture..

2008-04-08T19:39:00.000-07:00

East Med Sea Peace: peace culture..

I had to share this article originally from The Jerusalem Post. Thought it was a nice follow-up to my last post... very hopeful and congruent with my mindset. Please read and share your thoughts.

Clear as mud

2008-04-07T09:39:00.000-07:00

When we started this blog, we agreed that it would be a process. I've reached one of those milestones where I can look back to where we started and can more clearly see where I'm going... well, sort of. I am more clear and can better articulate why it is that I chose to head down this path. What path, you're asking? Yeah, exactly.

It took me until I was well into adulthood before I embraced my Jewish identity and then I was faced with this conflict-thing due to a coincidental encounter with a Palestinian, born and raised in a refugee camp in Lebanon, who then became my friend. I heard a side of things I'd never heard before. Stuff that can really mess with your head if you've had no prior exposure to it. The Catastrophe? What catastrophe? And perhaps, for my friend, there came a realization that being Jewish doesn't have to mean that I believe in an exclusive for-Jews-only land. My new friend's experiences with the Jewish people and Israel had been pretty bad (understatement). If it weren't for meeting here in the states, I don't think we would be friends. And despite our perceptual, historical, and cultural differences, I consider that friendship a blessing. But, the new perspectives that came with that friendship were intimidating and unsettling, so I set out to educate myself. I knew that this effort would only make me stronger, and it has. It's a self-absorbing, neurotic process... that I believe many others can relate to, in one way or another.

After first meeting my new friend, I turned to Halla because I had known her before and considered her to be a "safe" Palestinian. She had never seemed to mind being Israeli and spoke with adoration of her home town of Haifa. I would even venture to say that when I first met Halla, she seemed almost enthused to discover that I was Jewish, like it was something familiar to her. When I told her of my new friend and pressed her on some of these new perspectives, I found that she held a more complex set of attitudes than I had previously known. She fully accepts the State of Israel but is often angry and frustrated with it's policies toward non-Jews. They are thankful to live in Israel where they have a better situation than in the territories but feel grief and angst for their fellow Palestinians living in those troubled regions. And then there is the issue of being a Christian minority. I found that like my new friend, she spends a lot of time following the news from back home. We both carry with us the richness and the pains of our ancestries, mine from the shtetl world of Eastern Europe including places like Russia, Latvia, Lithuania, Ukraine and Romania, hers from the ancient cities of Haifa and Nazareth... and we are both American. It seemed an interesting combination for a blog, providing different histories and different perspectives, especially in regards to Israel and Palestine, and being here in the U.S. adds the dimension of being disconnected, or removed from the conflict zone. Our geographical placement can make it a challenge to fully comprehend the situation over there, but can also (I hope) support a more peaceful dialog.

It concerns me that too many of us are only learning one side of this story or the other, and most of the time, a very shallow understanding at that. Aggravated by a cycle of violence, this only weakens us and creates a void where we become subject to extremist ideals. It concerns me that our older generations, who have experienced and witnessed so much of this history, are leaving us behind with not much to work with. It's difficult to find leaders or experts out there that can advise on this issue without bias or some political pull, or at least, in a level-headed manner. A lot of the talk out there is either defensive or attacking, neither of which are conducive for constructive learning. There are many who would rather avoid the subject or stay "safe" in their one-sidedness. Ignorance is bliss, I guess, and knowledge carries a heavy burden. And then there are those whose pain is so great, they don't speak at all. If some of my writing has been in a meandering fashion, as if I'm wading through the muck, it's because I have been. And if it appears that a lot of what I've been reading and sharing is from a "Palestinian" perspective, that's because this perspective is relatively new to me and I want to explore that. It's funny, some accuse me of being too "pro-Israel" while others worry that I've become "anti-Israel" (sigh). Halla and I are neither historians, politicians, nor professional journalists... we're a couple of chicks with a blog! This is where I need your help, or maybe we all need each others' help. If you've read or seen something you think we should consider, or have a family story or personal experience you are willing to share, or if you believe we have mis-stated or omitted information, I encourage you to submit your comments or send us an e-mail - whatever is most comfortable. There are those who would rather us stay silent - leave the talking to the "experts", they say. But I disagree. We should speak. We should speak openly, with our hearts and our minds. Here in the blogosphere there are no security fences or road blocks, and we can link up with like-minded people or seek out opposing views. Take a look at some of our fellow bloggers like: From Gaza With Love, East Med Sea Peace, Two Friends from Gaza & Sderot, or Thoughts From Baghdad. Ordinary people from different corners of the world expressing themselves and reaching out to others.

Thank goodness for friends. About a month ago, we hit a rough spot. With strong opinions being expressed followed by events in the middle east, with the continued violence and despair in Gaza and the horrific shootings in Jerusalem, emotions ran high and the dialog began to escalate. Most of you were not aware of some of the behind-the-scenes e-mails received and phone calls that we had. It got a little tense. But it was my friend, Halla, who reminded me that we're dealing with sensitive issues and this kind of stress is bound to happen. And it was my friend, Halla, who assured me that we'll get through this.

With all that being said, I may express my opinion on a specific piece of news or event and you can see that we share links and websites that our to our liking. These are our voices after all, so it mainly has our style. But if you think that my intention is to prove to you that one side of this conflict is right or wrong, well... I just don't see it that way. And if you think that my intention is to sell you on some political solution, I hate to disappoint you but, I don't have one. I'm not even sure I have the right to determine a political solution. I've never even been to Israel or Palestine. Let me repeat that so we're all clear: I've never been to Israel! (although I do hope to visit there in the not-too-distant future) I tend to think that the logistics of any political solution should be left to, what I like to call, the Peaceful Majorities, meaning the peaceful majority of Palestinians and the peaceful majority of Israelis. Nevertheless, there are some things that I care about and do have a right to weigh in on. I care about upholding human rights, civil rights, religious equality, and equity for all peoples. I care about the well-being of Israel and all of the Jewish people. I would like to see all places of religious significance in the middle east - whether they be in Israel, Palestine, or beyond - be recognized as sacred to Christians, Jews, and Muslims alike, and should be treated as such with protective access for all who seek them. I am concerned about divisions, whether they be imposed, derived, or implied. And to a certain extent, those divisions exist here, too. I care about ending the violence and ending the need for militarism.

So I take one thing back... I am trying to sell you on something. I'm trying to sell you on ideas such as: awareness through shared dialog and learning with open hearts and open minds, peace through non-violence, and most of all I want Israelis and Palestinians, Arabs and Jews to find a way to support each other and stand together!

Have I made myself clear, or am I clear as mud?

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

2008-04-05T16:46:00.001-07:00

Yesterday was the anniversary of the assassination of the late Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. A wise man of peace, this speech contains many parallels to today's events in this country and around the world. In his memory...

"I refuse to accept the view that mankind is so tragically bound to the starless midnight of racism and war that the bright daybreak of peace and brotherhood can never become a reality... I believe that unarmed truth and unconditional love will have a final word." ~ Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

Another good one from Uri Avnery

2008-03-26T22:23:00.000-07:00

Another great column HERE from Uri Avnery, a really good read.

But of course am biased he picked my choice for president!! Will give you a hint, WE need a change!

Angels Baseball

2008-03-25T22:00:00.000-07:00

Yes I know this has nothing to do with Palestinian/Jewish anything but did I ever mention that I LOVE baseball? Particularly the Angels! They start their regular season in 4 days and guess who is going to be watching them almost every night? I go thru withdrawals when the season ends.

Here's to wishing the Angels a good & exciting season and definitly more hitting.

Go Angels!!

An uneventful Purim

2008-03-23T22:00:00.000-07:00

First of all, I hope everyone had a happy Easter today. I ran to the store this morning to pick up a few things and it was so crowded! Lots of people dressed in their Sunday best picking up last minute things for their Easter celebrations. One beautiful little girl had her hair done up like a princess and was dressed up in a Cinderella gown (I wish I could have gotten her picture).

This weekend also happened to be the Jewish holiday of Purim. Basically, the holiday is based on the melodramatic story of Queen Esther of ancient Persia who saved the Persian Jews from the insidious plot of the King's evil adviser, Haman. It's a holiday that's full of silliness - it reminds me of Mardi Gras with it's carnival atmosphere, crazy costumes, and revelry. While reading the story of Esther, we stomp our feet and use noise makers whenever Haman's name comes up to "blot out" his evil name. There's also a tradition to drink until - as I understand it - you can no longer tell the difference between good and evil. The way it's been explained to me, this is to deepen our understanding that good and evil exist within all of us, and therefore, being "good" or "evil" is nothing more than a choice that we make.

Most of the festivities around here were held on Saturday and I was hoping to take my son to a family-oriented Purim carnival, but I got a call from the school nurse on Friday and you know what that means. He was sent home sick, which meant no carnival, no baseball, no nothing :-( I did, however, manage to make Hamantaschen cookies. These triangular-shaped cookies are supposed to resemble Haman's 3-cornered hat, although, I've also heard them described as resembling Haman's ear. I've tried a few recipes and the one I like the best is from the label of a can of Solo brand prune/plum (Levkar) filling, it has a nice biscuity texture and the grated orange peel adds a good flavor.

But before I get to the recipe... contrary to my uneventful Purim, there's been a party going on in Israel for 3 days. You can read about it and see some pics from Lirun's blog East Med Sea Peace here and here.

Solo Hamantaschen Cookies

2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup sugar
1 Tbsp. baking powder
1 tsp. grated orange peel
1/2 tsp. salt
1 cup butter or margarine, softened
2 eggs, beaten
2 Tbsp. milk
1 can Solo Fancy Ground Poppy Seed or Prune Plum (Levkar) Filling - see variations below
1 egg yolk beaten with 1 Tbsp. milk for brushing

Stir flour, sugar, baking powder, orange peel, and salt in large bowl. Cut in butter until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Add eggs and milk and mix until dough binds together. Knead dough in bowl 5 to 8 strokes or until smooth. Divide dough in half and wrap each piece separately in waxed paper or plastic wrap. Refrigerate 1 hour. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease 2 baking sheets and set aside. Roll out 1 piece of dough on lightly floured surface to 1/4" thickness. Cut dough with floured 3" round plain cookie cutter. Spoon 1 teaspoon poppy seed filling (or plum filling, or see variations below) into center of each circle. Bring 3 edges of circle together into middle of circle to form triangle. Pinch edges upward to make slight ridge, leaving small hole in center. Place on prepared baking sheets about 1 1/2" apart and brush with beaten egg yolk mixture. Repeat with remaining dough and filling. Bake 20 to 25 minutes or until golden brown. Remove from baking sheets and cool completely on wire racks. About 32 cookies.

Filling variations: Poppy seed and plum/prune filling are the most traditional, but you can fill them with just about anything. Apricot & cherry fillings are popular, too (use canned pie filling). The ones I made in the picture above have peach and chunky apple fillings. I've also made them with a chocolate chip filling. You can find the Solo brand poppy seed or plum/prune filling in your grocery store where they put the canned pie fillings, or in the kosher section.

Tip: do not over-mix or over-knead the dough, it will get tough if you do.

HAPPY EASTER

2008-03-21T09:00:00.000-07:00

!المسيح قام! حقا قام (al-Masīh qām! Haqqan qām!) Christ is Risen, he is truly Risen

These are the words we use on Easter Sunday!

Most of us are aware that Easter is all about Jesus rising from the dead. Allot of people have gotten away from the original message of Easter and it has become all about the Easter Bunny delivering baskets, which I am guilty of as well, I still put together baskets for my grown kids. But I am going to tell you about on my favorite memories growning up in Israel as a child of Easter. When my grandparents were still alive, my family and my uncles family would get together in Isifia (a town close to Haifa) and make Kaek (a date filled pastry) and Mamoul (walnut filled pastry), Now this was a big family affair, the women would make the dough and filling and form the pastries and it was the kids job to roll the date and decorate the Kaak. It was truly a family affair with our cousins, it takes alot of time and alot of work but it sure is good.

The last few years, I have been making it on my own and it takes me several days to get it done but everytime the I decorate the Kaak and Mamoul the memories flood back to a more innocent time. You just do not want to let go of traditions sometimes.

The Mamoul and Kaak are pastries that are made with semolina. Mamoul is stuffed with a walnut mixture and Kaak is stuffed with dates. You can put it in a mold or you can decorate it with special tweezers (which are hard to find in the US).

<--- Molds

Mamoul--->

<---Kaak (date filled) in a mold

Mamoul

Mamoul is Middle Eastern cookies served typically for special holidays such as Easter. The cookies have three traditional fillings including walnut, pistachio and date. Each is formed in a specific designed wooden mold. The design on the cookie lets you know what the filling is inside. To make the cookie the mold is floured, then round, filled, balls of dough are packed into the mold. The mold is rapped on the work surface to remove the cookie. Cookies are then baked, cooled and coated in powdered (confectioner's) sugar.

I got this recipe from the internet and its pretty close to our recipes

DOUGH

1/2 cup solid shortening

8 tablespoons or 4 ounces butter

1 cup flour, all purpose

2 cups semolina

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon baking power

1/4 cup granulated sugar

1 tablespoon rose flower water OR 1 tablespoon orange flower water

7 tablespoons water

walnut, pistachio or date filling

confectioners sugar

Walnut or Pistachio Filling

1 1/2 cups finely chopped walnuts or pistachios

2 Tablespoons orange or rose flower water

1/4 cup sugar

1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Mix well together.

Date Filling (Kaak)

1 1/2 cups chopped dates

1 tbsp allspice

6 tablespoons butter

Cook dates with butter over low heat for 15-20 minutes.

Mash occasionally until dates are completely pureed. Cool before filling.

INSTRUCTIONS:

Do not expect the dough to be cohesive but it will be damp enough to form into balls to pack into the cookie molds. This recipe needs to be started a day ahead. Melt shortening and butter together or use all butter if you wish a richer cookie. cool slightly.

Mix flour, semolina, salt, baking powder and sugar together. Rub melted shortening into dough with fingertips until it is like fine soft meal. Cover bowl and let it rest overnight. Combine flower waters with 7 tablespoons water and sprinkle over the dough. Toss lightly with a fork to distribute liquid evenly. Mix until just combined, like pie dough. (another person says to knead the dough well). Dust maamoul molds well with flour. Invert and tap gently to remove excess flour. Estimate the amount of dough need to fill maamoul mold and make a ball of dough. Flatten it out slightly and place a good tablespoon of filling in center. Close dough around filling to cover it. Pack ball into mold. Level off cookie even with the lip of the mold. Be sure you have not revealed filling or it will stick to the pan as it bakes. Tap cookies out onto the work area with a sharp firm hit to the top of the mold. Transfer cookies to baking sheet with a spatula. Bake at 300 to 325deg F about 12 minutes, until barely colored. Cool.

Sprinkle with confectioners sugar before serving.

Canter's on Fairfax

2008-03-15T18:14:00.000-07:00

My mom and step dad were in town for the day on Friday, so I met them at the famous Canter's Delicatessen on Fairfax Ave. in the old Jewish part of Los Angeles. I love L.A.! And going to Canter's is always a nostalgic and gastronomical treat. My mom tells me that she lived not far from here as a little girl when her family moved to L.A. from Philadelphia.

On the exterior of the building, there are these great murals depicting Jewish life in L.A. during different time periods.

From sandwiches piled high with pastrami, to lox and bagels, blintzes, and kugel, and their to-die-for-bakery filled with strudel, hallah bread, cookies, cakes, and slabs of rich cheesecake! I can never leave without bringing something home from the bakery. Oh, Haaaaalllllllaaaaa..... when are you coming with me?????
And guess what? Welcome to the jungle! You can currently get a signed copy of Guns n' Roses' Appetite for Destruction at Canter's Deli **. What's the connection? Evidently, Marc Canter, the owner of Canter's Deli, is a long-time friend and fan of Axl, Slash, and company.
** (3-30-08) Correction - You can get a signed copy of Marc Canter's book, Reckless Road - Guns N Roses and the making of Appetite for Destruction. The book covers the creation and rise of the band on the sunset strip and contains Marc Canters original photos, memorabilia, and more. Canter's Deli is not selling signed copies of the music CD, Appetite for Destruction.

Flashback time...

Until next time, I'll leave you with this image from the bathroom wall of the ladies' room at Canter's...

Detached

2008-03-08T15:59:00.000-08:00

I feel detached. What am I supposed to do but watch from afar as the violence in Gaza and Israel escalated this week and people's emotions escalated with it? I watch and stay silent as I hear each side crying out, and the divisions deepen. The bridge I want to build falls apart in front of me. There's not much I can do, and so I feel detached. But, in memory of all who have lost their lives on both sides, I'll keep picking up the pieces.

If you haven't already done so, you may want to consider signing the cease-fire petition that Halla mentioned in her post dated March 5, 2008. This petition for a 1 month cease-fire has been proposed by the bloggers at Life must go on in Gaza & Sderot. By the way, this blog is written by two friends that go by the names Hope Man and Peace Man. Hope Man, the Israeli, lives in Sderot and Peace Man, the Palestinian, lives in Gaza. Their blog is getting international attention and as one commenter stated, they "are a little candle light in the sea of darkness".

Also, I wanted to share this. Despite those who would have me believe this man is "an extreme leftist" (I hate labels), Rabbi Lerner's thoughts and words often resonate with me. Here's what he had to say about this week's events:

Murders at a Yeshiva in Jerusalem
by Rabbi Michael Lerner
Editor, Tikkun

Tikkun and the Network of Spiritual Progressives unequivocally condemn the killings of students at Yeshivat Mercaz HaRav in Jerusalem today. Just as last week we prayed for a speedy recovery of Israelis and Palestinians wounded in the fighting in Gaza and the bombings of Sderot, so today we pray for a speedy recovery for those who were injured in this ghastly attack. The wounds of two thousand years of exile and the holocaust are inevitably restimulated by this kind of attack, and tragically the price will likely be paid by Palestinian civilians, who in turn will fight back and then the price will be paid by other Israelis. Thus the seemingly endless cycle of violence will continue.

We at Tikkun feel equally grieving for the people killed by vicious and immoral terrorists at the Yeshiva Mercaz HaRav (the ultra-nationalist religious center that developed the ideology which inspired religious Zionists to believe that they had a God-given right to settle and hold on to the territories without regard to the consequences for the Palestinian people already living there) as we do for the victims of Israeli terror (which in the past week killed 120 people, many of them children, many of them sitting in their homes when Israeli troops randomly fire-bombed and murdered them, as documented by the same international human rights organizations that today condemned the attack in Jerusalem by terrorists). We understand that these killings can only be understood in the context of the 60 year old struggle between these two communities, and that nothing short of a full peace accord that will require a new open-heartedness on both sides can possibly break this horrible cycle of violence. We have no sympathy for Hamas, Islamic Jihad, Hezbollah or those in Israel who advocate violence as a solution or those in the military who announced that they were going to implement a Shoa on the Palestinian people in Gaza, or any of the extremists in the Palestinian world or the Israeli world who seek to disrupt and derail any movement toward peace.

We similarly mourn the people in Sderot and Ashkelon terrorized by bombs from Hamas, as we did for those people who die in the Gaza and West Bank areas because the check points prevent them from getting to the doctors they need, and the many children suffering from malnutrition because of Israel's slow starvation of the country and cutting off of supplies. Of course there is no "moral equivalency" here, because as Talmud and other religious and spiritual traditions teach, every single life lost is a unique tragedy, and no life lost can be compared to or the loss justified in terms of the life lost of others.

From our standpoint, all violence, whether overt or built into the institutions of economic and political reality, is a sin and unacceptable, whether done by the powerful or the powerless. Violence is the wrong path. So this week in Beyt Tikkun synagogue we will say kaddish for the young men killed at the yeshivat ha rav, and for the people killed in Gaza by Israeli troops, Israelis killed in Sderot and Ashkelon, and for the million two hundred thousand Iraqis killed by the US occupation of Iraq and the 4000 American soldiers killed in that war. And all the victims of wars in Africa and Asia, all the victims of oppression and murder in China and Tibet, all the victims of oppression in Saudi Arabia and Iran and Lebanon and Syria and Egypt.

When will they ever learn? Violence doesn't solve anything. It doesn't create safety. The way to security is through a. recognizing "the other" as part of you, not an alien but as a fundamental part of "the unity of all being" created in the image of God and deserving just as much as we deserve, and entitled to live at the same standard of living and with the same political rights as we have and receiving the same compassion we would give to our friends; b. the Strategy of Generosity that we in the US have to initiate and the Global Marshall Plan that makes it concrete (see www.spiritualprogressives.org); and c. public acts of repentance and atonement that both sides need to take to acknowledge the cruelty and hurt that they have visited on the other side.

Till that happens the killings will go on, and the partisans on each side will always blame the other, and each will ignore the history that has led to the specific act of violence that they are focused on, and each will proclaim that any one who does not side exclusively with their side is a traitor and an evil person.

All this talk, though, doesn't really reveal how much those of us in the Tikkun community are grieving for all the pain and suffering, how deeply sad and depressed it makes us, and how very much we wish we could ease the suffering on all sides of this struggle. May all of them be comforted along with all the mourners of Zion and Jerusalem and the whole world!

Rabbi Michael Lerner
Editor, Tikkun Magazine www.Tikkun.org
Chair, the Network of Spiritual Progressives www.spiritualprogressives.org
RabbiLerner@tikkun.org

P.S. If this message resonates with you, please a. send it to everyone you know and call your local media and ask them to have this "progressive middle path" perspective represented by speaking to us at Tikkun Magazine 510 644 1200 b. help us by joining the Network of Spiritual Progressives at www.spiritualprogressives.org <http://www.spiritualprogressives.org>

GOD HELP GAZA!!

2008-03-07T09:30:00.000-08:00

Let me set one thing straight, I hate any killings on both sides of the fence!

So, What do you think is going to happen now after yesterday?

1 Settler dead = 117 Palestinians killed and hundreds injured and lost homes

8 Rabbi Seminary students = ? Palestinians killed, injured or destruction of property?

The ratio is never equal and hundreds of innocent people get punished for a handful of idiots out there. Talk about collective punishment? Does anyone think the retaliation or collective punishment has helped in the past? Someone tell me how that has helped other than get revenge on the Palestinians as whole?

Of course Condi will show up to talk peace after hundreds of Palestinians have been killed and God forbid that they deal with Hamas only the ineffective puppet (Abbas) that the US & Israel has approved. Yes that was sarcasm!

Gaza - Sderot

2008-03-05T19:55:00.000-08:00

With all the voilence going on in Gaza, its time for a break.

Our fellow bloggers HERE have put a petition together to stop the voilence in Gaza, both sides are tired of the daily killings, here is the PETITION. Please sign it and pass it along.........
Maybe someone out there will listen, too many have been killed!