The other day Phil Weiss, editor of the always informative blog Mondoweiss (http://mondoweiss.net) asked Dorothy Zellner, a longtime leftwing activist now working with Jews Say No (http://jewssayno.wordpress.com), to explain why it is essential to address the issue of Israel's occupation of Palestine as Jews, and speak to other Jews. A lot of activists would say, But this is an American issue; everyone should be engaged. And a lot of leftwingers would say, Religion/ethnicity is a tiresome traditional category, I don’t want to identify myself in such a manner. [Thanks Phil for sparking a great post.

People often say the Palestine/Israel issue is sooooo complex.  (I usually say it is simple – one nation illegally occupying another), but a few recent Kafkaesque incidents might make me change my mind. 

This is the final post of the four part series by Felice Gelman who writes about her recent trip to Gaza under the pen name rosahill. Here are links to the first three posts from her diary. Here are links to the first three posts, Part I, Part II,  Part III.

Sunday, June 7, 2009

About Me

Rafah -- Survival Strategies for Palestinians

This is the second in a series of commentaries.

Thursday, May 28, 2009

This is the first two of a series of posts by Rosahill about her second trip to Gaza to witness conditions there. Promoted by carol.

Rachel – a film documentary directed by Simone Bitton, shown at the Tribeca Film Festival

 This is a somber movie indeed, and timely as the United    Nations attempts an  investigation of the Israeli attack on  Gaza.  Rachel re-examines the death of Rachel Corrie,  crushed by an Israeli army bulldozer in Gaza in 2003.  The    director, Simone Bitton, describes it as “the examination of    an examination”,  with much of the film focusing on re-  visualizing what happened, interviewing  witnesses, and on  the Israeli investigation of Rachel’s death.  The counterpoint  is Rachel’s fellow International Solidarity Movement activists  reading  excerpts from her diary.

 I hate to say "There you go again," but AIPAC (the American Israel Public Affairs Committee) concluded its annual conference in Washington DC with 508 meetings with Congressional representatives.  Their message?  Their representatives should sign a letter to President Obama demanding he allow Israel to set the pace of negotiations with Palestinians, substituting vague offers of economic development and institution building for substantive negotiations to end Israel's occupation of the West Bank and siege of Gaza.  Here is a quote from the letter, sponsored by Representative Steny Hoyer, " "the best way to achieve future success between Israelis and Palestinians will be by adhering to basic principles that have undergirded our policy..."  These include "acceptance that the parties themselves must negotiate the details of any agreement" as well as demanding that the Palestinians first "build the institutions necessary for a viable state" before gaining independence. 

Here is a link to an article in the UK Guardian for more information: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/may/06/us-israel-palestinians-middle-east.