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December 7, 2003
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 Powell Stays with U.S. Mideast Peace Plan by Barry Schweid
The Israeli and Palestinian authors of a private Middle East peace plan presented their proposals to Secretary of State Colin Powell on Friday but were unable to alter the Bush administration's approach to peacemaking between Israel and the Palestinians. "It was a very good meeting," Powell said. "We welcome other ideas." However, Powell said, the internationally-backed road map for peacemaking still had "primacy" in moving forward on the Israeli-Palestinian dispute. (AP)
Israel Army: 25 Attacks Thwarted in November Alone
Israeli security forces have thwarted more than 25 terror attacks in the month of November, Army Radio reported last week. The attacks foiled included suicide bombings, roadside bombs, and shooting attacks. The Israeli security establishment is registering about 50 terror attack warnings, half of which emanate from Hamas. (Jerusalem Post)
Attacks by Arabs on Jews in France Revive Old Fears by Elaine Sciolino
Some French Jews, particularly working-class and middle-class Jews of North African origin, are convinced that France is not entirely safe for them. They say the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and the American occupation of Iraq have morphed into a battleground for French Arab Muslims to attack Jews. France is home to about 600,000 Jews - the world's largest Jewish population except for those of Israel and the United States - but also as many as 10 times that number of Muslims of Arab origin, the largest such population in Europe, many of them young, poor and unemployed. (New York Times)
See also Arizona State: Sharon Lampoon Reveals European Anti-Semitism by Eric Spratling
Recently, a British political cartoon depicted an oversized, naked Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon eating a baby. The piece was awarded "Political Cartoon of the Year" from the British Political Cartoon Society. No, you didn't read that wrong: I said he was eating a baby, as in there was a baby's head in Sharon's mouth, and he was tearing at the neck-meat like a piece of Kentucky Fried Chicken. Throughout history, anti-Semites always have had a funny habit of hiding their prejudice behind concerns about pacifism, communism, capitalism, etc. Israel is just the newest face to draw on the punching bag. (Web Devil)
 The Mistaken Arab Experience by Michael Young
For all the justifiable grievances it has aroused, the Palestinian fight for self-determination has, in many respects, rendered the Arab world impotent. Through overriding attention to the fate of their Palestinian brethren, Arabs - whether consciously or not - have sacrificed much-needed political, social and economic advancement in other domains. The prism of 1948 has distorted so many things in the Middle East that it is with little imagination that Arab states and societies tend to address such fundamental issues as democracy, sovereignty, the perils of overmilitarization, relations with the U.S. and, even, the optimal pursuit of national interests. (New York Times)
Hatred of Jews Threatens Rule of Law, Former CIA Head Warns by Joseph Brean
Former CIA director James Woolsey, speaking at York University last week, said: In their growing resentment of Jews, Europe's media and cultural elite have breathed the first breath of totalitarianism. Jews are history's great champions of the rule of law, and intolerance of Jews is a first step toward dictatorial rule - a hallmark of the world's most oppressive societies. Modern Europe resents Jews for holding strong to the ideal that timeless rules trump temporary rulers. (National Post)
Brown: Israel-Themed Journal Published with "Big-Name" and Student Authors by Michael Ruderman
Perspectives was printed this fall at Brown. Edited by Joshua Marcus '04, the journal includes articles both critical and supportive of Israel, but all are built on the foundation that Israel has a right to exist and defend its citizens, he said. The journal examines Israel from a political standpoint, but includes articles about "everything from Israeli archeology to Israeli cinema," Marcus said. "So often, conversation about Israel becomes so ‘sloganized' that actual intellectual exploration about this place can be left by the wayside." (Daily Herald)
Cornell: Mayor of Ithaca Extends Sympathies to Israel by David Hillis
Ithaca Mayor Alan Cohen '81 signed a proclamation stating "that the Mayor of Ithaca extends his sympathies and heart felt support to the Mayor and people of Jerusalem, to the mayors and people of all the cities and towns in Israel which have suffered similar attacks and to all of the victims of violence on both sides of the conflict." The proclamation was supported by the Cornell-Israel Public Affairs Committee, a campus-wide pro-Israel organization at Cornell. Ari Stern '05, senior vice-president of CIPAC, thanked Cohen for the proclamation during the meeting. (Daily Sun)
Emory: Israeli Rep Discusses Peace Process by Drew Paul
Ephraim Sneh, a representative of the leftist Labor Party in Israel's parliament, stressed the need for more U.S. involvement in the Middle East to about 130 students and faculty in a speech in White Hall last week. Sneh, who chaired Israel's Knesset Committee on Defense Planning and Policy, said if Iran acquires nuclear weapons, it would pose a "strategic, existential threat" to Israel because Iran's government is opposed to Israel's existence. "The moment Iran has the bomb, the inhibitions not to use it may gradually fade away," he said. (Emory Wheel)
Yale: Tom Friedman Debuts Film on Israeli Fence by James Kaiser
Thomas Friedman, who writes a foreign affairs column for The New York Times, screened his new hour-long Discovery Channel documentary, "Straddling the Fence," which examines the security fence Israel is building in the West Bank. In the film, Friedman voiced his doubts about the fence. "I began to get a sinking feeling that now more than ever, the situation was utterly broke," he said. "There's no sugar coating here," he said. "I want people to be shocked and devastated. I believe the Jewish state I grew up with and deeply believe in is in real peril." (Daily News)
Brandeis: Protest Left-Wing Fascism by Bezalel Stern
Daniel Pipes is not a racist. He is not a bigot. He may be an Americanist, but last time I checked, there is no crime - moral or tangible - in that. The protesters at Pipes' speech, in the name of justice, of fairness and equality, shut themselves out of an open debate. Instead, mocking freedom and democracy - everything a liberal American should stand for, they insisted on name calling, lambasting, and rolling in the mud of baseless rhetoric. Those who believed they were upholding the cause of liberalism and equality by stomping out of the discussion to picket and boo were only fooling themselves. Ignoring discourse in favor of propaganda is not liberalism. It is simply left-wing fascism. (Justice)
Brown: The Geneva Accords: a Comedy of Errors by Alex Carnevale
The Geneva Accords are as far from the current reality of the conflict as Switzerland itself. I'm not sure what took two and a half years to craft, since this proposal is virtually identical to the deal offered by Ehud Barak in 2000, with a few more Israeli concessions. If Colin Powell's schoolgirl reaction to the initiative doesn't paint the full picture, nothing does. The same administration that on June 24, 2002 demanded a cessation of terror was a prerequisite to peace is now set to coddle two out-of-work politicians who insist that peace is at hand even while Arafat and his group of thugs refuse to crack down on Hamas and Islamic Jihad. (Brown Daily Herald)
Harvard: You Say You Want a Resolution? by Daniel Hemel
At an institution that prides itself on facilitating free discourse, the debate at Harvard over Israel tests the limits of tolerance and the possibility of dialogue. While Israelis and Palestinians battle with tanks and bombs, their supporters at Harvard are waging their fight by luring hot-button lecturers to campus. Harvard students may not reach a peace treaty resolving Israeli-Palestinian conflict - at least not before graduation - but they can arrive at a cease-fire to defuse the tension that has marred on-campus debate. To accomplish this, the brash ideologues on campus must make room for more measured voices to set the tone of discourse. (Crimson)
Israel's First Eskimo Soldier by Raffi Berg
Eva Ben Sira, 18, is training to become an IDF squad commander in the Negev desert - a far cry from the frozen wastes of her homeland. Eva was born to a Yupik Eskimo mother and a Cherokee American father before being adopted by an Israeli couple. (BBC)
Villanova: Women's Basketball Takes Holiday Inn Mountain View Invitational
The Villanova women's basketball team won the Holiday Inn Mountain View Invitational tournament title by defeating the University of New Mexico, 70-57. Forward Liad Suez from Israel was named Most Valuable Player of the tournament. (Villanova)
Maryland: Doron Selected Rookie of the Week
After shooting a scorching 62.5 percent from the field in the Terrapin Classic, Maryland's Shay Doron from Israel was named ACC Rookie of the Week. Doron scored in double figures in back-to-back games of the Terrapin Classic. (University of Md. Terps)
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 - The Geneva Accord – Pro and Con | | An Accord to Remember by Yossi Beilin and Yasir Abed Rabbo
- The Geneva Accord is a negotiated but unofficial framework for reaching a permanent peace between our two peoples after years of bloodshed and lost and shattered lives.
- The accord lays out, for the first time, what a credible and negotiable Israeli-Palestinian peace agreement could look like. In the process, it addresses all the major differences between the parties, including security arrangements, the shape of permanent borders, the status of Jerusalem, the future of West Bank settlements, the rights of refugees and access to holy places.
- In October, we were able to put on the table a 50-page agreement, including detailed maps. The document is complicated and thus difficult to summarize, but its central idea is that in exchange for peace with Israel, the Palestinians would at last gain a nonmilitarized state. The Palestinians would also get sovereignty over the Temple Mount, though Jewish access to the holy spot would be guaranteed by an international security force. In addition, Israel would have the opportunity to keep some West Bank settlements, including many of the new Jewish communities constructed on the Arab side of Jerusalem.
- We are pleased that the accord seems to be having a positive impact on the negotiating environment. Copies of our document have been sent to every Israeli household and published in the major Palestinian newspapers.
- In the end, however, the Geneva Accord is only a "virtual" agreement. The decision-makers - in the Israeli government and the Palestinian Authority, in Washington and elsewhere - can use it, modify it or ignore it. As private citizens, we have done about as much as anybody can do in a situation that has become totally unbearable. Now it is up to our leaders. (New York Times)
See also Citizens Show Peace is Possible - by Bill Clinton (USA Today) |
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The Dangers of the Geneva Accord by Ari Shavit
- In going to Geneva, the peace yuppies did it once more: They forced through an irreversible diplomatic fact that they were not authorized to make. Essentially, they asked the world to force their will on their own people.
- Since the Geneva document now offers the Palestinians much more than was offered to them before they initiated the terror offensive against Israel, it rewards them for their aggression. It teaches them that there is practically no limit to the concessions that can be extracted from Israel through the prolonged use of force.
- Since the document completely disregards the demand for Palestinian reform, it ensures that the future Palestinian state will be an Arafat state. Such a state - despotic and corrupt and committed to a destructive ideology - would be a certain source of regional instability.
- The entire document is essentially based on the comprehensive crushing statement in UN Resolution 194: [T]he refugees wishing to return to their homes and live at peace with their neighbors should be permitted to do so at the earliest practicable date..." The meaning of this statement is the end of Israel.
- The document does not include a security appendix, and proposes a hollow offer of demilitarization that Israel may not begrudge.
- The document places at the center of the new reality that it outlines a powerful international mechanism, composed of the countries of the Quartet and at least one Arab state. The international mechanism would basically cancel out the Israelis' control of their own fate.
- The two-state solution was and remains the only solution. We have to end the occupation, and it is compulsory to partition the land. However, if the operation to separate the Israeli Siamese twin and the Palestinian Siamese twin is performed in the spirit of the Geneva initiative, both twins will bleed to death on the operating table. (Ha'aretz)
See also The Geneva Accord: A Strategic Assessment - by Yaakov Amidror (ICA/Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs)
See also Geneva is a Blueprint for War, Not Peace - by Jeff Jacoby (Boston Globe)
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