A PROGRESSIVE VOICE AMONG JEWS, A JEWISH VOICE AMONG PROGRESSIVES
Decode Jerusalem is a free independent alternative travel guide to East Jerusalem. It invites you to stroll around places that are hardly mentioned in conventional travel guides and aims at letting you discover some crucial aspects that the Israeli occupation, going on since 1967, brings with it.
This was published as an opinion piece in the Australian Jewish News (2 April 2009) The AJDS is puzzled that the Australian Jewish News (26 March 2009) regards as front-page news an Anti-Defamation Commission report by Dr Phillip Mendes about events that took place nearly a decade ago.
Debate within our community on Arab-Jewish dialogue is always important, but a particular person’s anecdotal experience with a now defunct academic organisation in which two out of three of his adversaries were Jewish, provides no basis to conclude that dialogue is worthless.
This is my personal take on Philip Mendes’ recent report for the Anti-Defamation Commission of Bnai Brith. Not only is it an attack on intercommunal dialogue, but a not-so-subtle attempt to discredit the AJDS and the Palestinian intellectual class (who should not be put into the same basket). It is reflective of the type of argument used by many on the right to discredit all critics of Israeli policy
It is intellectually, a flawed and disingenous piece of writing. The blog is my personal opinion.
Yoni Goodman, one of the creators of “Waltz with Bashir”, which won a Golden Globe and was nominated for an Academy Award, today has launched a new animated short film entitled “Closed Zone”. He created the short for “Gisha – Legal Center for Freedom of Movement”. The 90-second film mixes animation with realistic shots to depict the closure imposed on the Gaza Strip by Israel for more than 1.5 years.
This site is named after a street in Hebron near the Tomb of the Patriarchs that has been closed for many years and has been the subject of many legal challenges. The site is from South Africa.
Jeff Halper, the Israeli anti-demolitions activist, gives his account of the campaign of censorship by the ‘Lobby’ in Australia. To its credit, the Australian Jewish News ran it as a letter as well.
It appeared on Anthony Lowenstein’s blog (and we don’t endorse a lot of what Anthony says), but at least he has given Jeff the space to make his case).
http://southjerusalem.com/ is a progressive (and orthodox) blog by a number of concerned Jerusalem residents. Gershom Gorenberg also writes for the American Prospect magazine. ‘The only place in the world where you can be a left-wing, skeptical Orthodox Zionist Jew and feel like you are part of a mass movement.’ It’s an eyopener of a site.
The New Israel Fund (NIF) is the leading organization committed to democratic change within Israel. Since 1979, NIF has fought for social justice and equality for all Israelis. We believe that Israel can live up to its founders’ vision of a state that ensures complete equality of social and political rights to all its inhabitants, without regard to religion, race or gender.
This is one link, but it willl lead you to hundred of others. Of course, Wikipedia is a public resource that can be edited by anyone, so check your facts!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arab-Israeli_Conflict