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Have Your Say

 25/09/09

Maybe Israel just needs to acknowledge Palestinian pain

Jonathan Freedland makes a bold suggestion:

“If Israelis and their supporters were able instead to face the truth of what happened in 1948 and admit it, who knows what progress might be made?

 

Would admitting the truth of 1948 instantly undermine the legitimacy of the State of Israel? Only if you believe that Israel's legitimacy was predicated on the notion that its birth would be bloodless. Israel's advocates can argue that the creation of a Jewish national home in 1948 was so morally necessary it remained, and remains, just - even if it came at a tragically high price.

If most Zionists believe that - and they surely have to - then they should not balk at spelling out precisely the price paid by others. It is the morally honest thing to do - and, taken together with a similar process of national contemplation on the Palestinian side, may just unblock a peace effort which desperately needs unblocking.”

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Have Your Say

 25/09/09

 19/10/09

FOL reader notes that “ Turkey ’s move is an example of public pressure that works to wake up the business of politics” and shares these two articles:

"Deception, spin and lies." Israel can fool Western leaders but it can no longer fool the people.  Gilad Atzmon argues that the success of Israeli leaders in hoodwinking Western politicians and historians is slowly beginning to unravel as ordinary people wake up to their deception, spin and lies.

 “A salute to Erdogan, a salute to Turkey”

“Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the Prime Minister of Turkey, and other Turkish officials have made it amply clear that the cancellation of the military drill is consistent with the feelings of the vast bulk of the Turkish masses vis-à-vis the Nazi-like atrocities in the Gaza Strip.  This week, Erdogan once again invoked the mass killings by the Israeli army of hundreds of Palestinian children, using white phosphorus shells and other weapons of death.  The Turkish premier argued convincingly that Turkey has an influential public opinion and that it was the government's duty to take it into consideration.”

 28/10/09

FOL reader shares this video from http://iamisrael.com/

 04/11/09

“British Muslims seen but not heard”
By Hena Ashraf is a filmmaker and advocate for independent media. Download and read Seen and Not Heard online at http://policyresearch.org.uk/SeenandNotHeard-Complete.pdf.

 

“Seen and Not Heard” is an assessment of young Muslims in the UK, by Sughra Ahmed of Britain's Policy Research Centre. The study, conducted over 18 months and released in September 2009, aims to give voice to young Muslims who are often analysed by researchers, but rarely heard from.

 

Some interviewees felt helpless, saying, “You can’t really make a difference.” Ahmed recommends that young Muslims be encouraged to enter media fields as a means of empowerment. As a precursor to this, other interviewees have proactively countered the negative perceptions enforced by the media simply by getting to know their non-Muslim peers.

Ahmed concludes that the identities of young Muslims in the UK are constantly in flux because of shifting attitudes towards education, culture and religion, and that the media’s everyday barrage spurs perceptions to shift quickly. By dispelling stereotypes and misconceptions, Seen and Not Heard demonstrates that young Muslims in the UK have a lot of potential but their potential needs to be recognised and respected.”

 04/11/09

In The Law Of Return: 'Oh Learned Judge!" Bernard Avishai comments on Judaism and Zionism: “And here I thought the principle that a democratic state’s legitimacy derives from the just consent of the governed was older than that. I also thought it was the counterpart to an argument about human nature and human limitations, you know, a moral argument reasonable people since Kant have had some trouble refuting. Wow, it is actually only a Weltanschauung our kids and other “poor, deluded dears” pick up along with a Eurail pass.  Had [Yaacov] Lozowick actually read The Hebrew Republic, rather than merely forming an impression of its thesis, he would know that its point was to clarify just how a democratic state could retain a Jewish national character; how to protect its cultural distinction without violating ordinary standards of human rights.”

 04/11/09

 

 27/11/09

FOL reader says “don’t miss this one” and shares Bernard Avishai’s excellent piece on “The Real Meaning Of The 'Freeze'”: “In effect, Netanyahu has followed the route of Sharon and Olmert before him on "Judea and Samaria," running like Menachem Begin and governing like Golda Meir: at first refusing to budge, then offering to take a five foot leap over the eight foot pit. No wonder the PA's Saeb Erakat announced almost immediately that the Israeli government's step was "unsatisfactory." No wonder, almost immediately, Avigdor Lieberman told Israel's Reshet Bet early this morning, "the response of the Palestinians is the last consideration the Israeli government's order of priorities." The point, he said, was mainly to attend to relations with Israel's friends, the (so he says) "17 countries" around the world that have supported Israel on the Goldstone report but have otherwise been drifting into hostility. (When you have Lieberman in the government, leaks are superfluous.)”

 27/11/09

A Must-Read Article: One More for the Roadmap… What settlement freeze??

By  Mary Rizzo, Palestine Think Tank

“I get the Israel Foreign Ministry press releases everyday. As I have often pointed out, they are somewhere between science fiction and fairy tales. To find a bit of truth in there takes effort. But today's really does seem to go beyond the beyond in its attempt to make one think there is a change in some kind of policy that will be "historic", of all things. Netanyahu is going to get the Roadmap back on track by freezing settlements? Oh boy. Let's have a look at that and see how this new fable is told before all the children of the world get sleepy and nod off to such a fanciful story. . . . .

 

‘We hope that this decision will help launch meaningful peace negotiations to reach a historic peace agreement that will finally end the conflict between the Palestinians and Israel.’ [MFA/Netanyahu]

‘Finally ending the conflict would mean a complete change in policy. And of course, you realise that he admits it is Palestinians (no unified representation) and a State (sponsored by the "international community") that are the two parties. If Israel does want peace, there is nothing stopping it… unless the "international community" sees advantages in PERMANENT INSTABILITY, which, friends… this is why Israel was created. To always have an unstable situation in the area that has the natural resources that industry yearns for but can't just go in and take without some permanent bases and reasons to "always deploy" always be "on alert" with military presence or "aid". Maybe it has nothing to do at all with Jews, but just to have a situation where things will never "settle down" and peace could never prevail’.” [Rizzo]

 23/12/09

FOL member says “Please have a look to the Israeli robbery in this link!!”  
http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=bc9_1260339603