May 30 1998 Invitation to an Exhibition: Ernesto Levy at the Ephrat Gallery

May 30 1998 If you agree with the following statement: "Jerusalem is ours, Israelis and Palestinians - Muslims, Christian and Jews. Our Jerusalem is a mosaic of all the cultures, all the religions and all the periods that enriched the city, from the earliest antiquity to this very day - Canaanites and Jebusites and Israelites. Jews and Hellenes, Romans and Byzantines, Christians and Muslims, Arabs and Mamelukes, Othmanlis and Britons, Palestinians and Israelis. They and all the others who made their contribution to the city have a place in the spiritual and physical landscape of Jerusalem. Our Jerusalem must be united, open to all and belonging to all its inhabitants, without borders and barbed-wire in its midst. Our Jerusalem must be the capital of the two states that will live side by side in this country - West Jerusalem the capital of the State of Israel and East Jerusalem the capital of the State of Palestine. Our Jerusalem must be the Capital of Peace"

then go to http://www.gush-shalom.org/jerusalem to sign the Jerusalem is Ours Petition (And Ariga adds: then finally the torah of democracy will shine from Zion...)

May 30 1998The Ariga Front Page is blackened along with many other sites, to mark the second anniversary of Bibi Netanyahu's election -- he and the coalition of nationalistic fundamentalists darken our hopes for peace.

May 29 1998 The Israel Section of Amnesty International is calling for a mourning vigil in memory of the victims of the massacre at Tianenmen Square in Beijing on 4.6.89. The vigil will be for one hour on 4.6.98, Thursday between 1500 and 1600 at the Chinese Embassy, 222 Ben Yehuda St. Tel Aviv. We invite all persons of good will to whom human rights are dear to join us. Let us hope we have a turnout that will be reported back to Beijing as representing concern in Israel for human rights in China. It is especially appropriate after the inspection of a guard of honor by our Prime Minister in Tianenmen Square this week. Alas, sensitivity never was his long suit... For more information click here.

May 28 1998

The Suicide of Labor Her groans fill the air: In “Har Homa” she is dragging herself after the government, about the “redeployment” she is silent, about the “Judaization of Jerusalem” she agrees with the government. Ehud Barak and his colleagues – Yossi Beilin, Binyamin Ben-Eliezer, Efrayim Sneh, Daliah Itzik, Ra’anan Cohen – are no alternative to the Netanyahu government. They don’t even try to be. This is a party that disappears before our very eyes. In order to be an alternative, the Labor party must convey a unequivocal, clear and trustworthy message: To truly implement the Oslo agreements, to resurrect the “green line” as the border between Israel and Palestine, to support the creation of the State of Palestine side-by-side with the State of Israel, to turn united Jerusalem into the capital of the two states. Boycott the Products of the Settlement Get the list here -- Every Shekel for the Settlements is a Shekel against Peace! Read the FAQ Gush Shalom ad, Ha’aretz, May 29, 1998.

May 27 1998 Has house demolition and forcible eviction become one of the viruses of the conflict? See what happened to Nigel Parry

May 25 1998 ISRAEL, PALESTINIAN AUTHORITY, EGYPT AND JORDAN PARTICIPATE IN GAZA CONFERENCE ON AGRICULTURAL TRADE Sponsored by IPCRI -- for those who need proof that peace is valuable -- and possible.

May 23 1998 Eric Lee's BibiWatch this week comments on how the Middle East Peace Process has become synonymous in Ireland with what could yetgo wrong with their peace process.

May 23 1998 The latest Omer Shvili Portfolio of Israeli High-Tech Stock is still way ahead of the NASDAQ composite index. Find out which stocks he's recommending for big profits on Wall Street.

May 21 1998 B'Tselem on the Israeli High Court's session regarding torutre by the Shabak.

May 21 1998 -- Only 8 more days to the Blackout Two prominent members of the Knesset have announced their support of the Israeli Internet Blackout, called for 29 May 1998.  The members are Deputy Speaker of the Knesset, Professor Naomi Chazan, and Meretz Chairman Yossi Sarid. Their statements (in English) appear on the web at: http://www.ariga.com/bibiwatch/ In addition, a newly updated list of endorsing websites has just been posted.  Websites in Israel, Jordan, Europe and North America have announced their support for the Blackout. If you have a website, or belong to an organization which has one, I strongly urge you to join the Blackout on the anniversary of Netanyahu's election.  Instructions on how to do this are now featured on the BibiWATCH site.  We only have 8 more days until the Blackout and must continue building support for it.  Thanks -- Eric Lee of BibiWatch and Robert Rosenberg of Ariga. Eric

May 21 1998 They Threaten Again! They talk about mutual respect and national unity - as long as everybody gives in to them. But they utter dire threats when anyone dares to challenge them. That happened after Oslo. The terrible result is well-known. Now it happens again. Faced with the results of the Boycott, which was declared by Gush Shalom against the products of the settlements, they published last week specific threats: to prepare a "black list" of the boycott activists and to organize a "personal campaign" against them. This was not voiced by some outsiders, but by the official leadership of the settlers. On the very same day, the settlers' spokesmen in the Knesset ran amok. Speaking from the Knesset rostrum, they pointed to the Gush Shalom activists sitting in the visitors' gallery, compared them to the Nazis (M.K. Weinberg) and to the destroyers of the temple (M.K. Porat). This kind of dark fanaticism has already demanded its price in Rabin Square. We shall not waver. The boycott of the settlements' product goes on. Remember: Every dollar to the settlements is a dollar against peace! Gush Shalom ad, Ha'aretz May 22, 1998. Check out the Boycott FAQ at Ariga -- why economic boycotts are legitimate political tools in a democracy.

May 20 1998 From Nigel Parry: New on "A Personal Diary of the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict" at http://www.birzeit.edu/diary/ "Al-Nakba commemorated in Ramallah" - a four-part look at the disintegration of history - Simon Wiesenthal once observed that, "Hope lives when people remember." The converse is also true. Hope dies when people forget, or when they display only apathy, or when they go about the process of rememberance in a way that seems ill thought-out or rinky-dink... Today, live ammunition rings out. Tomorrow we will be assured by the front page of the Jerusalem Post that, "OC Judea and Samaria Brig.-Gen. Yitzhak Eitan stressed that no live ammunition was fired by security forces in the West Bank. In Gaza, troops fired live ammunition only when their lives were in danger, the IDF Spokesman stressed." I'm sick of the endless lies... Down at the frontline things are pretty much at a stand- off. There are 100 meters between the soldiers and the shebab, with the latter hiding behind the wreck of a burnt- out car that they dragged earlier into the road for cover..." Read the full diary entry now at http://www.birzeit.edu/diary/

May 19 1998 The Jordananian Web site of PEACE hosted by Ameen is at: http://members.tripod.com/~ash74/index2.htm Check it out...

May 19 1998 The latest BibiWatch asks why Ehud Barak thinks he's going to get help from the settlers, and why he doesn't focus on the 165,000 Israelis who've become unemployed since Bibi took over two years ago.

May 19 1998 It's a critical time for diplomacy in Iran writes Andrea Wright, an Ariga corrspondent who spent seven years in that country.

May 17 1998 Go right now to http://www.gesher.co.il/vote.html, the Gesher Foundation's survey about Judaism and Zionism, and take a few minutes to fill in their survey. It's very kewl -- and has vehalila the only people using it are orthodox...

May 17 1998 New poetry -- From Ward Kelley on Sylvia Plath, Edgar Allen Poe, and F. Scott Fitzgerald.

May 13 1998 THANK YOU, HILLARY! Common sense and courage. Hillary Clinton has shown them. Binjamin Netanyahu and Ehud Barak  do not. THEY con the people. SHE says the truth: The creation of the State of Palestine, side-by-side with the State of Israel is the only way to bring peace to the two peoples of this country. Bill, listen to Hillary! Follow her example. HAVE NO FEAR, CHAVER! We call upon the President of the United States: Don't forget the testament of Rabin! Save the historic agreement, which you too have signed! A group of Gush Shalom activists will voice this call opposite the US embassy, Hayarkon Street, Tel-Aviv, this coming Monday, May 18, at 4.30 p.m. Come and join! Gush Shalom ad for May 15.

May 13 1998 A letter from B'Tselem refuting Israeli government prevarications about house demolition practices that discriminate between Arab and Jew in Jerusalem.

May 12 1998 Here's Josh Pollack's take on the status of Oslo. It's at the Jewish World Review, an interesting wide-horizon opinion mag on Jewish affairs.

And here's another take on the subject of Oslo. It's a poem by the talented Rowena Silver:

Birthright
by Rowena Silver

Conceived in Oslo, much desired and planned
He has his mother's eyes, his father's hands
They try to bundle him and bring him home
but there are those who scheme to sink the boat

There are those within his very house
And those within the neighbor's house as well
who wish that he had never been produced
Who think him upstart, or just premature

Afraid that he would rob them of their land
Who think there is no space between the Seas
For a small carriage, tracking sand with hope

The infant lies, content within his skin
With tiny, dove like bones he reaches out
He wears a laurel leaf and nothing more
Needs just a little milk-- and room to grow

You can write to Rowena Silver

May 12 1998 The Holocaust Education Foundation, Inc. a non profit organization dedicated to providing educators, students and the anyone conducting research information about the Holocaust, has opened a site at http://www.Holocaust-trc.org It carries articles, links, and more, and is worth a visit.

May 12 1998 Visit AMIN -- Arab Media Internet Network to learn more about the mysterious case of Abbas Momani, a photojournalist from Reuters News Agency, who is being held in detention by the Palestinian General Intelligence Forces.

May 11 1998 Shimon Peres on Why Israel Needs a Palestinian State -- an article that originally appeared in Le Monde, as part of their Israel at 50 coverage. It should be pointed out that it took Shimon Peres a lot of years to come around to a position that has been obvious for the last three decades...

May 11 1998 The latest BibiWatch is about turning anger from protest into politics, as is the following:

May 11 1998 Starting a week after the assassination of Yitzhak Rabin, the place where he fell at Tel Aviv City Hall became a point of pilgrimmage for Israelis and tourists who believe in the cause of peace. Friday afternoons have by default become regular events. Those who attend range from former Palmahniks who fought under Rabin all the way back in the war of independence, to "candle kids" who try to keep alive the feelings that poured into the streets in the days after the assassination. At Ariga we have long believed that these gatherings on Friday afternoons could -- and should -- be leveraged into a grass-roots mass movement for peace, but unfortunately, a combination of politics (and anti-politics) plus the fact that Friday afternoons start the weekend in Tel Aviv, has mitigated against that development. Nonetheless, in recent weeks, there have been some indications that the Friday vigils are growing. It began with the Fridays leading up to Independence Day and while the original core of vigil keepers were Rabin friends (often visited by Leah and other family members), others have begun showing up. Friday afternoon vigils are a tradition for peace groups -- Women in Black have been doing it for years a block away from the Prime Minister's Residence in Jerusaelem. Now, the latest group to make Friday afternoon a time to demonstrate for peace is the Meretz Student Group, which shows up at 13:00 (that's one in the afternoon) at Kikar Dizengoff (a few blocks away from the City Hall Rabin Memorial). So, if you're in Tel Aviv on Fridays, you might also want to join one of these vigils. If you can't make it, here's a virtual way to attend: Go to Yitzhak Rabin's Last Speech, which sums up why peace is possible, indeed neccessary -- and in retrospect hauntingly accuses the anti-peace forces of using violence, instead of democracy, as a political tool. (R.R.)

May 11 1998 The latest issue of THE OTHER ISRAEL (No. 83/84, April-May 1998) is now up at The Other Israel web site at http://members.tripod.com/~other_Israel/ 

May 8 1998 Rabbi Michael Lerner of Tikkun on Hillary Clinton's suport for a Palestinian state

May 6 1998 Nigel Parry tips us off to: "Web site opens for international dissident authors" The banned or censored words of five dissidents from China, Kenya, Algeria, Cuba and Cameroon were the first to be posted Tuesday on a new web site displaying the works of political activists. The web site http://www.dfn.org is published by the Digital Freedom Network (DFN), an international partnership founded in the New York area to fight censorship and protect human rights.

May 5 1998 Israel launched its independence celebrations in characteristic fashion, with all the pomp, spectacle, counter-pomp and counter- spectacle that we have learned to expect from this country. A report about a few events you may not have heard about, from Gila Svirsky of Bat Shalom.

May 4 1998 The latest BibiWatch by Eric Lee is about the May Day that wasn't in Israel, and how social and economic issues are Bibi"s real achille's heel. He filed it before the Ronni Milo announcement that the Likudnik turned dove is running for premier on a centrist (and probably anti-religious) ticket, but a combination of BibiWatch, and the article linked from the following item, show why Bibi is a lot more vulnerable than he appears.

May 4 1998 Avraham Hanadari's occasional newsletter on issues facing Israelis is always clearly written, and the point of view is (almost) always right on. In his latest newsletter, he comments on the problematics of democracies dealing with anti-democratic forces using democracy to impose their will, and reaches a surprising conclusion. It's here, at Ariga.

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