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January 9, 2005
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 Palestinians to Vote for Successor to Arafat by Wafa Amr
Palestinians vote on Sunday for a successor to Yasser Arafat widely expected to be Mahmoud Abbas, a pragmatist they hope will revive a peace process with Israel after years of bloodshed. Some 1.8 million Palestinians were eligible to vote in the West Bank, Gaza Strip and East Jerusalem. Five other candidates, ranging from a Marxist PLO official to a professor under house arrest in the United States on suspicion of funnelling money to Hamas militants, were forecast to garner only a few percent between them. (Reuters)
See also Palestinian Presidential Elections - Basics, Background, Videos (Washington Post)
Sharon to Meet Abbas after Elections by Margot Dudkevitch
Prime Minister Ariel Sharon will invite Mahmoud Abbas for talks at his Jerusalem residence next week after Sunday's election for the chairmanship of the Palestinian Authority, Israel's Channel 2 reported Friday. The prime minister will ask the frontrunner in the Palestinian election race to take action against terror organizations responsible for firing Kassam rockets at Israeli settlements and IDF posts in the Gaza Strip and at Israeli communities in the western Negev. Israel in return will be ready to systematically hand over Palestinian cities and towns to the PA. (Jerusalem Post)
See also U.S. Wary Until New Palestinian Leader Curbs Militias' Influence by Sonni Efron (Los Angeles Times)
Israel Sends Food to Tsunami Survivors
A two-day food collection for disaster victims in Southeast Asia concluded on Tuesday with tons of products collected at supermarkets throughout Israel. The aid was immediately dispatched to Sri Lanka. (See picture of Israeli and Sri Lankan officers receiving supplies.) The mobilization was organized by Magen David Adom, backed by the American Red Magen David for Israel. (Jerusalem Post)
See also Israeli Group Biggest Civilian Aid Contributor to Sri Lanka by Julie Stahl
The Israeli humanitarian aid organization Latet (Hebrew for "to give") has already shipped 70 tons of supplies to Sri Lanka, the largest amount sent by any civilian aid organization. (CNS News)
Sharon Meets with Birthright Visitors by Amiram Barkat
Prime Minister Ariel Sharon met in his office last week with young Jews visiting the country as participants in the birthright israel program. Some 70,000 young people have so far visited Israel under the program; 8,000 more are expected this winter. "The students visiting Israel return to their campuses and become Israel's best emissaries, " Sharon said. (Ha'aretz)
1,000 Birthright Alumni Now in Israel by Hillary Leila Krieger
One thousand birthright Israel alumni are now living in Israel - some as immigrants, some in the army, and others in university - officials at birthright said last week. The program has brought some 75,000 young Jews from 40 countries to Israel. (Jerusalem Post)
U.S. Universities Pressed to Change Policy on Study in Israel by Amiram Barkat and Daphna Berman
Jewish organizations have launched a new campaign aimed at convincing universities in the United States to change their policy on study in Israel. According to the organizers of the campaign, schools have been imposing unjust limitations on students who express an interest in studying in Israel because of exaggerated fears for the students' personal safety. In the 2002-2003 academic year, slightly more than 100 students studied in Israel, compared to 4,000 in 2000-2001. At the start of the current semester, ICC launched a nationwide campaign - "Let Our Students Go" - to try to persuade the universities to change their policy. (Ha'aretz)
 Mr. Abbas's Campaign - Editorial
Abbas has been a strong and courageous opponent of violence against Israel and a supporter of Palestinian compromises to move toward a two-state solution. That's why some of Mr. Abbas's words and actions in campaigning for Palestinians' votes on Sunday have been so disturbing. Rather than reject armed militants, he has clambered onto their shoulders, called them "heroes" and vowed to protect them. Rather than prepare Palestinians for compromise, he has reiterated Arafat's unachievable commitment to "the right of return" for refugees. From the beginning he must show that he intends to lead it down a different path. (Washington Post)
Arafat's Heir by Charles Krauthammer
Has no one learned anything? Abbas is running practically unopposed, and yet, on the question of both ends and means, he chooses to run as Yasser Arafat. During the decade of Oslo, Arafat's every statement of hatred, incitement and glorification of violence was waved away. In Abbas's first moment of real leadership, his long-anticipated emergence from the shadow of Arafat, he chooses to literally hoist the flag of the terrorist al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades. Can Abbas turn into a Sadat, who also emerged from the shadow of a charismatic leader, reversed policy and made peace with Israel? I'll believe it when I see it. And hear it. (Washington Post)
Palestinians: A Fractious 'Family' by Asaf Romirowsky
With the election for new prime minister of the Palestinian Authority, the question of a societal division in the Palestinian population becomes more crucially relevant: The animosity between Gazans and West-Bankers has drastically increased since Yasser Arafat's death. There are geopolitical and economic differences between the two societies. As journalist Nicholas Jubber writes, "the Gaza Strip and the West Bank are divided by their unequal economies, distinct dialects, and cultural animosities forged by their pre-1967 experiences under separate regimes - Nasser's Egypt and King Hussein's Jordan." (Philly.com)
Palestinian Elections: What Goes on "Over There" by Natan Sharansky
We must not delude ourselves into thinking that these Palestinian elections will be democratic. Free elections can only occur in a society where people are free to express their opinions without fear of being punished for them. When there is no protection of the right to dissent, when a regime controls the press, when voters and potential opponents are intimidated, what happens in the voting booth matters little. If we return to the Oslo mindset of not caring about what happens within Palestinian society, no peace process will succeed. (Ha'aretz)
To Divest or Not to Divest: Ethical Considerations of Addressing the Israel-Palestine Conflict by William Baue
Investors, such as the Episcopal Church, have opted against divestment in favor of shareowner action with companies doing business with the Israeli government. And Jewish organizations such as the Shefa Fund are calling for balanced approaches, criticizing one-sided divestment as ineffective in solving the problems. "We think divestment is not the right way to change the situation," states Yariv Oppenheimer, the head of Peace Now, the largest peace organization in Israel. "If anything, it may have the opposite effect of the one intended." (Social Funds.com)
Harvard: Big Man on Campus by Hilary Leila Krieger
Harvard University president, Lawrence Summers, received an honorary doctorate from The Hebrew University last month. In September 2002, Summers made headlines for taking on the issue of anti-Semitism on college campuses. In a speech, he called boycotts of Israeli academics, fundraising by student organizations for groups that support terrorism, and the Harvard divest-from-Israel drive "anti-Semitic in their effect if not their intent." Uniform attitudes can be a particular problem within academic departments that focus on one region, with Middle East studies being one of them, he said. "In general there is a tendency for area studies programs, with respect to all areas, to perhaps adopt a perspective of many in the area they are studying. I think that can be problematic," he said. (Jerusalem Post)
See also Harvard: Summers Tours Middle East by Zachary M. Seward
Summers told an audience in Jerusalem that instances of apparent anti-Semitism on American college campuses had declined since he first spoke on the issue more than two years ago. Summers excoriated those academics who, he said, have demonized Israel while ignoring human rights violations elsewhere. Summers rejected what he called "relativistic nihilism, in which all positions are equally legitimate, all positions must be respected and compromise must be entered into, no matter what the starting point or reasonableness of the two parties. It seems to me that Israel is right, its friends are right: moral people everywhere are right to resist that approach." (Crimson)
Wichita State Orders, Then Removes Pro-Israel Literature from Arab Artists Show by Rick Hellman
A photographic exhibition that dramatizes the plight of Palestinian Arabs will be presented next month at Wichita State University. There will be no attempt to counter-balance the Palestinian-American artist's political thrust by distributing pro-Israel literature in the museum, as officials of the Mid-Kansas Jewish Federation first asked and WSU university officials first agreed to do. (Kansas City Jewish Chronicle)
Columbia: There Is More to Be Explored in Columbia University's Middle East Studies than Israel by Nat Hentoff
According to Ariel Beery, a student in Columbia's Middle East studies department, "They teach everything in the context of one special, small struggle, where there are 23 countries out there where minorities are being oppressed, where women are bound to their homes, where homosexuals are put in jail. They're ignoring the rest of the Middle East in favor of a small dimension of it." The answer is to provide an actually diversified Middle East studies department. It's not about bringing in pro-Israel professors, but scholars who teach - not inculcate. (Village Voice)
See also Non-Academic Debate by Uriel Heilman
Columbia president Bollinger has acknowledged the university's failure in dealing effectively with the students' complaints through existing university channels, and he says part of the university's goal is to establish a clearer process for lodging complaints about academic intimidation. (Jerusalem Post)
Concordia: Hillel Gives Peace a Chance by Janice Arnold
The Many Faces of Israel exhibited last month was intended to show the diversity and complexity of Israel, said organizer Tal Elharrar. A highlight of the week was the appearance on Coexistence Day by two members of Parents' Circle-Families Forum (PC-FF), an organization of Israeli and Palestinian families who have lost relatives in the conflict, yet are engaged in dialogue and are striving to end violence. Among the more provocative images displayed was one which read: "Where in the Middle East can gay officers serve their country? Only in Israel." Other eye-catchers included those of Israeli Arab feminist Hussniya Jabara and of Baruch Dago, an Ethiopian immigrant, said to be Israel's most popular soccer player. (Canadian Jewish News)
Ben-Gurion U: Israeli Bedouin Is Firm Believer in Coexistence by Janice Arnold
Ben-Gurion University (BGU) changed the life of a young Bedouin man who was given the opportunity to receive a higher education. Jamal Alkirnawi, 24, who graduated from BGU with a BA in health system management and worked with Bedouin youth, was the guest speaker at the Canadian Associates of BGU. He is in Montreal this year as one of 11 fellows of the McGill Middle East Program in Civil Society and Peace Building (MMEP), taking a special graduate social work course alongside other Israelis, Palestinians and Jordanians. He was active in a program at BGU to promote understanding between Jewish and Arab students. (Canadian Jewish News)
Duke University Plays Host to Anti-Semites and Terror Advocates by Eric Adler and Jack Langer
In October, Duke hosted the annual conference of the Palestine Solidarity Movement, dedicated to delegitimizing the State of Israel. In the aftermath of the conference, Duke's Jewish organizations - and Jews in general - became the object of furious attack in columns and electronic discussion boards of the student-run Chronicle. The real issue at Duke was always the refusal of the licensing authorities to call such notions bald anti-Semitism and incitement to the murder of innocents. That refusal on the part of the university and its president is what led to the postconference outbreak of anti-Jewish hatred. Once the guardians of the citadel granted permission to open the gates, is it any surprise that the marauding hordes came storming through? (Wall Street Journal)
Hadag Nahash Makes Israel Hip by Hilary Leila Krieger
Shaanan Streett, lead singer of Hadag Nahash, walks into the room and is mobbed by fans. In this case, the fans are all American. But thanks to the band's popularity - and particularly to that of "The Sticker Song" - Hillel students on a winter-break tour of Israel are connecting with a familiar personality. "The Sticker Song," a compilation by author David Grossman of many of the politically charged bumper stickers found in Israel, has been used as the basis for an American curriculum teaching about Israeli diversity, democracy, and difference of opinion. (Jerusalem Post)
See also Israeli Hip-Hop Star Makes an Unlikely Hero by Daphna Berman (Ha'aretz)
See also
Translation of the "Sticker Song" and Educational Curriculum (Israel Center-San Francisco)
Batey Shoots for Spot on U.S. Maccabiah Soccer Team by Lenn Zonder
Last summer, Lara Batey's soccer ability took her to Brazil. Next summer, if all goes as planned, that same ability will take her to Israel to compete in the 17th Maccabiah. A junior on the University of Connecticut women's soccer team, Batey has been invited to try out for the United States Maccabiah team. The tryouts will be held in Miami Lakes, Florida this weekend. (Newstimelive.com)
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 - The Disengagement from Gaza and Northern Samaria: Pro and Con
| A Disengagement of Disenchantment by Jonathan Spyer
- The political direction of which Ariel Sharon's disengagement plan forms a part is the most significant development in Israeli policymaking since 1967. It is an attempt to finally free the Israeli political discussion from the squabble between rival utopias that has dominated it since the 1970s.
- The first of these promised utopias, that of the left, has already largely vanished from the public discourse - a victim of the cataclysmic failure of the Oslo process of the 1990s. This project posited a historic compromise between Israel and Palestinian nationalism, based on the ascendancy of shared, rational economic interests.
- The clash of ideas in Israel is currently taking place in the center-rightward side of the arena between a disenchanted, realist outlook, as represented by Ariel Sharon and his allies, and the redemptive ambitions of the religious nationalist camp. The flagship of the latter has for a generation been the settlement enterprise in Judea, Samaria and Gaza.
- Guiding the advocates of disengagement are the following items: The awareness that something must be done. Demographic realities make the status quo untenable.
- The awareness that the bringing into being of a Palestinian state with provisional borders, created as part of a process of cooperation between Israel and its most important ally, the United States, represents the best possible outcome in the current reality.
- Irreconcilable issues will remain unreconciled. But a political arrangement including (limited) Palestinian sovereignty will have been established.
- Israel's security in the dysfunctional region in which it is situated will continue to derive, in this arrangement, from the strength of its armed forces and their technological edge.
- Disengagement is the first step along this road. The plan is the product of disenchantment, and hence has none of the heady thrills of utopia about it. In the weeks to come, its opponents, most significant among them advocates of theocracy of various stripes, will be mobilizing to make its implementation impossible.
- The future direction - internal and external - of the State of Israel will to no small extent be dependent on the outcome of this contest. (Ha'aretz)
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Will Transfer (Really) Not Happen in 2005? by Yisrael Harel
- The method that the settlers and their supporters hope to employ in the course of 2005 in order to lift this evil decree is the referendum. They seek to repeat, this time among the entire electorate, the precedent of the vote among Likud members.
- About half a year ago the settlers turned a deficit of 20 percent in the opinion polls into a victory by more than 20 percent in the actual Likud referendum. Without the Arab vote, they argue, there is no majority favoring uprooting settlements. With hard work, they believe, a referendum can be won.
- A week ago, Pinchas Wallerstein, a settler leader, stated that if there is no referendum, the alternative is non-violent civil disobedience, including a readiness to go to jail. The response was overwhelming: spontaneous demonstrations and hundreds of declarations of support by telephone, SMS and email.
- To summarize, this will more or less be the settlers' strategy in 2005: massive but not violent resistance to attempts to uproot them, along the Ukrainian model. True, the media, which in Ukraine played a key role in the victory over the government, supports the government in Israel. But as Wallerstein notes, we are used to confronting hostile media.
- Yet the most effective means of stopping the uprooting is liable to be one the settler leadership in fact rejects in principle: a refusal on the part of soldiers to obey disengagement orders.
- A large percentage of the IDF's combat soldiers come from the religious and settler communities. Many of their spiritual teachers, the rabbis, are telling them that an order to uproot Jews is illegal. The soldiers from the development towns, too, are unenthusiastic, to say the least, about participating in disengagement.
- The only way to prevent a major clash between the settlers and their supporters and the government in 2005 is, as the settlers demand, a referendum--or elections. If Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and his supporters are so certain that the majority supports them, why don't they adopt this approach, if only to prevent a schism among the people and the army? (Bitterlemons.org)
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