Michael Lerner: January 2009 Archives
Wednesday January 14, 2009
Categories: Economy, International Relations, Jews, Media, Muslims, Religion in the Public Square, War
Cease Fire Now in Gaza - Full Page Ad in the New York Times
On Wednesday Jan. 1st the Tikkun Community and the Network of Spiritual Progressives purchased an full page Ad in The New York Times (it appears on page A17 of Wednesday's issue). It was signed by about 3000 people and funded almost entirely by small donations from about 1200 people. We purchased this Ad to give a voice to a widely held opinion that gets almost zero coverage from the news media. We plan on purchasing more Ads in other newspapers, if we have the funds. Please read the Ad (below or in PDF format) and go to http://www.spiritualprogressives.org/article.php/gaza to sign it and, if you are so moved, donate to get it published elsewhere. You can also call 510-644-1200 to sign and donate.
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Filed Under: Gaza, Interfaith, International Relation, Israel, Israeli politics, Marhsall Plan, Media, Middle East, middle east conflict, Palestinians, Tikkun, War
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A Strategy to End the Israel/Palestine Struggle Once and For All
The leadership of the State of Israel has rejected the latest calls for a cease fire. Only President-Elect Obama has the moral authority to make a call for a cease fire that could be listened to seriously by the Israelis. But if he is going to take that step, he should also use this moment to move beyond the specifics of the present moment and call for an international conference that could bring together the forces that would effectively insist on a fair and just settlement.
The idea that we are going to reach peace some other way is problematic at best. The current Israeli fantasy is this: the Israelis decimate Hamas, making Fatah the only remaining force. Then Israel negotiates an agreement for two states, but the agreement allows the Israeli West Bank settlements to remain in place, and the IDF to remain there to protect the settlers and the special roads that criss-cross the West Bank for use by settlers only. The outcome: a Palestinian state that is defacto a set of isolated cantons fully surrounded by Israelis, in effect the occupation continuing but in a different form. Fatah Palestinian leadership might grab at such a two state idea, and that might provide peace for a few years or even more. But eventually the nationalist and Islamic forces will revive from the current slaughter in Gaza, and they will see that a Palestinian state of this sort is neither legitimate nor viable, and the violence will start up again.
The only plausible thing to do is for the people of the world to come together and create a solution that is just and fair to both sides.
What can you and I do to make this happen? The best we can do at this moment is to get the attention of our president-elect and put forward the idea of how to make it happen and what it could look like.
Unfortunately, our attempts to present these ideas in the op-ed pages of the Times, the Washington Post, the LA Times have been turned down. Our only recourse, and it's an expensive one, is to buy full page ads in the major newspapers and present our plan. It's the one way we will for sure be heard by President-Elect Obama.
To
do that we need your help. Tikkun magazine and the Network of Spiritual
Progressives (our interfaith political education arm co-chaired by Cornel West
and Sister Joan Chittister) do not have the money to buy such an ad. We can
only hope that you will help us by donating to the ad (which you can do at
www.tikkun.org ) , signing the ad (which you can do even if you have no money),
and sending this message to everyone on your email lists and asking them to
contribute as well. Here is what
the ad will say:
Text of
Gaza Peace Ad
Cease Fire Now in Gaza!
President-Elect
Obama: It's Time to End the
Violence in the Middle East-
Once and For All
Convene an International Middle East Peace Conference to
Facilitate a Final Peace Settlement that is just and fair to All
Parties
Filed Under: foreign policy, gaza, geneva accord, hamas, iraq war, israel, Judaism, middle east, Obama, obama administration, pakistan, palestine
Tuesday January 6, 2009
Israel in Gaza
Israel
is still using a strategy of domination in its struggle with Hamas,
trying to use force to gain security. But this is a recipe for endless
war.
Gaza, December 31, 2008
Israel's attempt to wipe out Hamas is understandable, but it cannot work.
No country in the world is going to ignore the provocation of rockets being launched from neighboring territory day after day. If Mexico had a group of anti-imperialist South Americans bombing Texas, imagine how long it would take for the US to mobilize a counter-attack. Israel has every right to respond.
But the kind of response matters.
Massive bombings of the sort that have thus far killed over 400 Palestinians and wounded 1,000 other civilians is a classic example of a disproportionate response.
Before Israel's massive bombing, the Hamas bombings that began when the previous ceasefire ran out had not (thank God) killed any one. The reason is obvious: Hamas has no airplanes, no tanks, nothing more than the weapons of the powerless--limited range mortars with limited accuracy. Hamas can harass, but it cannot pose any threat to the existence of Israel. And just as Hamas' indiscriminate bombing of population centers is a crime against humanity, so is Israel's massive attack against civilians (in addition to those killed thus far in Gaza, there are the thousands killed by Israel in the years of the Occupation of the West Bank and Gaza). Israel's human rights violations during the cease fire included a massive cut off of food and other vital necessities--a crime against international law.
On the other hand, any understanding of the situation must also include acknowledgment of the Post Traumatic Stress Disorder faced by Israelis living under the constant threat of terrorism, to which the katyushka bombings, however ineffective militarily, contribute massively. Living under constant threat of attack, plus hearing the leader of Iran talk about wiping Israel off the map, is a background condition that shapes Israelis ability to be so insensitive to the human damage they have caused by the Occupation. Conversely, the ongoing trauma of expulsion and the Occupation that has contributed to the ongoing ethical insensitivity of many Palestinians to the suffering that they cause Israelis by engaging in terror attacks against civilians. In short, compassion for both sides is a desparate necessity.
Gaza, December 31, 2008
Israel's attempt to wipe out Hamas is understandable, but it cannot work.
No country in the world is going to ignore the provocation of rockets being launched from neighboring territory day after day. If Mexico had a group of anti-imperialist South Americans bombing Texas, imagine how long it would take for the US to mobilize a counter-attack. Israel has every right to respond.
But the kind of response matters.
Massive bombings of the sort that have thus far killed over 400 Palestinians and wounded 1,000 other civilians is a classic example of a disproportionate response.
Before Israel's massive bombing, the Hamas bombings that began when the previous ceasefire ran out had not (thank God) killed any one. The reason is obvious: Hamas has no airplanes, no tanks, nothing more than the weapons of the powerless--limited range mortars with limited accuracy. Hamas can harass, but it cannot pose any threat to the existence of Israel. And just as Hamas' indiscriminate bombing of population centers is a crime against humanity, so is Israel's massive attack against civilians (in addition to those killed thus far in Gaza, there are the thousands killed by Israel in the years of the Occupation of the West Bank and Gaza). Israel's human rights violations during the cease fire included a massive cut off of food and other vital necessities--a crime against international law.
On the other hand, any understanding of the situation must also include acknowledgment of the Post Traumatic Stress Disorder faced by Israelis living under the constant threat of terrorism, to which the katyushka bombings, however ineffective militarily, contribute massively. Living under constant threat of attack, plus hearing the leader of Iran talk about wiping Israel off the map, is a background condition that shapes Israelis ability to be so insensitive to the human damage they have caused by the Occupation. Conversely, the ongoing trauma of expulsion and the Occupation that has contributed to the ongoing ethical insensitivity of many Palestinians to the suffering that they cause Israelis by engaging in terror attacks against civilians. In short, compassion for both sides is a desparate necessity.
Filed Under: afghanistan, foreign policy, gaza, geneva accord, hamas, iraq war, israel, Judaism, middle east, obama administration, pakistan, palestine
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Diana Butler Bass and Paul Raushenbush both stand firmly within the Mainline Protestant tradition and, along with guest bloggers of all religious backgrounds are dedicated to the revival of religious progressivism and its influence in American politics.
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Diana Butler BassDiana Butler Bass is a commentator and scholar in American religion. She is the author of seven books including A People's History of Christianity: The Other Side of the Story (HarperOne, 2009).
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Paul RaushenbushModerator of the Progressive Revival blog and the Associate Dean of Religious Life at Princeton University.
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