Yom Kippur Here's something that can be done for atonement: From Gush Shalom: The Fakia family's home has been demolished twice, leaving them and their 13 children, homeless. We will rebuild the home in respons to the cruelty and brutality of authorities. Two months ago, we have worked hard, under a blazing summer sun to help rebuild the home of Shawamre family in Anata. This action recieved a large International media coverage. On Saturday we will all come again, to rebuild the Fakia family's home and as a mark of belief in peace and reconciliation between Israelis and Palestinians. Transportation will be available on Saturday morning, Oct 3 from: Jerusalem - "Liberty Bell" parking lot at 8:15 Tel Aviv - "Arlozorov" (North) train station at 8:00 Residents of Katanah will meet us at the main intersection in Givat Zeev at 8:45-9:00. To guarantee your seat on the bus, please phone Gush Shalom at 03-5221732 or write to Oren Medicks

Yom Kippur An old Tel Aviv, Tel Aviv column, about Yom Kippur

Sept 25 1998Thomas O'Dwyer reports from the German election scene. His report is called Grass-root Green

Sept 25 1998 Andre Brutmann: Purim Photos, images from a photo-essay on haredi (ultra-Orthodox) celebrations of the holiday.

Sept 24 1998 American Peace groups, including many Jewish activists, who were alerted by Gush Shalom, induced the American international ice-cream manufacturers, Ben and Jerry's, to cancel its contract for buying mineral water from the Golan settlers' company, Mei Eden. Gush Shalom's ad for this week

Sept 23 1998 The Other Israel's Monthly Report

Sept 23 1998 An article on Jewish-Arab bridging efforts in the U.S.

Sept 23LAW outlines five years of human rights abuses since the Oslo Agreement

For the Jewish New Year

18/09/98 13:46:58 A HAPPY NEW YEAR? On the eve of the Jewish new year, everybody wishes everybody SHANA TOVA, a "Good Year." A year of peace, security and prosperity. But all of us feel that this time the wish is being uttered without conviction. The coming year may be bad. Very bad. Under Netanyahu, there is no hope for peace. No hope for security. No hope for prosperity. We do wish for a "Good Year." For both peoples. Because there can be no good year for one people, if it is not a good year for the other people, too. A year of peace between the State of Israel and the State of Palestine. Because thus, and only thus, the two peoples of this country will attain - A year of peace, security and prosperity for all. Gush Shalom ad, Ha'aretz, September 18, 1998.

Season's Greetings By Michael Eilan

It's only a job
That dried knob will have to become a pink cyclamen,
The mulberry will have to lose its leaves
The politicians will have to lie sincerely
The people in business decide
After the rain comes.

Then there's the matter of prayer
Before the rain comes,
Confused in the morning
Bemused at night
Before the rain comes
In nobody's name.
And that other moment
Which is neither single or multiple
In the drops that wash
Before the rain comes.

Then there's the matter of justice
Without happiness before and after the rain.
Dry as the job of shooting people dead
In the name of God after the rain comes
Because even a name is only a job
Without happiness before the rain comes.

Michael Eilan is a writer/editor living in the Galilee. You can write to him c/o eilan@datasphere.co.il

From tikvanet@aol.com Dear Chevra, We approach a Rosh Hashanah profoundly different from the one five years ago. Today we have an Israeli government that has taken many steps to cancel the peace process, and a US government that acts too paralyzed to push it forward. So -- we need both a spiritual teaching and a practical step. The spiritual teaching is a Rosh Hashanah talk that takes the story of Hagar and Ishmael, Sarah and Isaac, Abraham and both families, in a new direction. A good read by Cherie Brown. The Practical Step is a call for a workshop on breaking the Silence, a group working to demonstrate that the American Jewish community ihas strong pro-peace elements, and is not ruled by the militants, fundamentalists, ultra-Orthodox, and fanatic.

Try PeaceWatch at Ariga for a Jewish-Arab dialogue, or visit http://www.igc.org/traubman/peace.htm -- aka THE PUBLIC PEACE PROCESS - Resources and Inspiration Built by Lenny Traubman of the Jewish-Palestinian Living Room Dialogue Group, a pioneering group of Californians creating person-to-person dialogue to fill in the blanks created by the politicians, The Public Peace Process page is a good place to start the new year because of its inspiring links to dialogue between Jews and Arabs. (Before you go, if you're a first time visitor, bookmark this page as a favorite -- it has alot more on it, and is updated almost daily.)

And one other matter for this coming year: Regarding Monica:

We won't be surprised when she decides to hide out somewhere in Israel. Will she come back as a settler or rebbetzin? kibbutznik or peacenik? or just find some nice jewish boy ready to tell all of 'em, leave her alone. As for Bill -- we don't care about how he gets sex, though we are concerned about how all of it will affect his responsibilities as a witness to the Oslo Agreement, which the Netanyahu government has worked against since the day they took office.

WOMEN AND CIGARS By Karen Alkalay-Gut

A woman is a woman
But a good cigar is a smoke

-Winston Churchill


Statesmen and shrinks have always had a thing
about cigars, how it gives them pleasure and stimulation
in the middle of making decisions
affecting millions of lives

And women are so concave, so hollow-
hard to wave them around a table,
blow their voluptuous evidence
into the faces of cowering opponents

More poems by Karen Alkalay-Gut

Sept 16 1998 A Global Intelligence Update from Stratfor on Egyptian-Sudanese rapprochment.

Sept 16 1998 Five Years Since Oslo -- a Report on Human Rights violations in the West Bank and Gaza, prepared by LAW, The Palestinian Society for the Protection of Human Rights and the Environment is a non-governmental organisation dedicated to preserving human rights through legal advocacy.

Sept 12 1998 To Dennis Ross: When you meet with Netanyahu -- ask him why this is necessary? Is this what Judaism is about? What Zionism is about? What Democracy is about? ISRAELI MILITARY DEMOLISH JABBER FAMILY ORCHARD

Sep 11 1998 The PeaceWatch Declaration Regarding a Palestinian/Israeli Settlement. It is a reminder to that  PEACE  is not a spectator sport  - but a dialog and action group. We hope that everyone participating in PEACE, and also individuals, groups and organizations from ALL OVER THE WORLD will join us in giving this declaration the widest possible publicity and support. We hope that this declaration can serve as a common basis for dialog and for action. It is not intended to be a comprehensive or perfect document. It is intended as a wake up call to leadership on both sides. We are telling them that that beyond  the special interest groups that stand in the way of peace, there is also a group, hopefully the majority on both sides, that wants to resolve our problems in a reasonable way and build a future for our children based on decency and mutual respect. Read and sign the PeaceWatch declaration at www.ariga.com/peacewatch/deceng.htm.

Sept 12 1998 Peace Now demonstration in Rabin Plaza at City Hall.

Sept 10 1998 A brief report from the Christian Peacemakers Team on a typical week for them in Hebron August 31, 1998 - September 6 Monday, August 31 CPTers took a Catholic priest on a tour of Hebron. Joanne "Jake" Kaufman, Tom Malthaner and Dianne Roe visited families in Beit Ummar. Tuesday, Sept 1 Mark Frey and Malthaner went with Ali Abu Ayoub to Tel Rumeida to examine the site of some archaeological ruins. Kaufman and Roe visited with a family in Beit Ummar whose application for rescinding their home's demolition order was rejected in July. The father said that he doesn't want to think about the demolition order anymore. Amal, the mother's, name means hope. Kaufman commented that we hope that the house will remain standing. Amal replied, "Hope is tired." Kaufman and Roe also visited two people shot by soldiers during the recent closure. The mother of seven children was shot in the leg, fracturing the bone, while getting sugar for her family. A 12-year-old boy also took a bullet in the upper leg. Wednesday, Sept 2 Abdel Hadi Hantash of the Land Defense Committee reported that settlers prevented a farmer north of Hebron from working the land he is attempting to reclaim. Thursday, Sept 3 Kaufman and Reservist Eric Graham and an Italian visitor accompanied Hantash on a visit to a family near Yatta, in southwest Hebron district. The family's tent home was bulldozed and burned on August 17, the same day Ata Jabber's home in the Baqa'a Valley was bulldozed. They also visited the Jabber family in the Baqa'a Valley. Soldiers had confiscated irrigation pipes and severed water lines early that morning. Friday, Sept 4 Anne Montgomery arrived. Internationals from Jerusalem visited the Al Atrash family with Roe and translator. Kaufman, accompanied by Jan Siemens from the U.S. and a translator, visited the Abdel Muhsen Abu Sneineh family. Although the demolition order on their house has been lifted, they still are at risk since their house does not officially have a permit. For more on the CPT in Hebron, click here

Sept 10 1998

The Protest Continues!!!

Last Saturday, the Israeli army and police deployed tens of vans
and jeeps and declared half of the West Bank a closed military-
zone in order to prevent Israeli leftists of the Hebron Solidarity
Committee ("HSC") from speaking out against Apartheid and the
Jewish settlements in Hebron. The activists were detained by the
police at the Neve Daniel settlement and were prohibited from
reaching Hebron.

The Hebron Solidarity Committee will not be stopped in standing up
against Apartheid in Hebron!

Over 30,000 Palestinian residents of Hebron face constant curfew,
closure, water shortages, settler violence and Israeli military
occupation while 400 armed Jewish settlers roam free and bask in
their endless water supply.

Say no to Jewish settlements!
Say no to Apartheid!
Say no more Israeli occupation!

Sept 10 1998And now for some good news A report from Gila Svirsky of the Bat Shalom / Jerusalem Link

Sept 10 1998 Turkey Attempts to Forge Bloc for Impending Cyprus Crisis An analysis from Stratfor about the burgeoning Turkish-Israeli "axis," as Netanyahu so typically referred to it...

Sept 10 1998 Deadly Friendship Israel has many friends in the Unites States. Jews and Non-Jews. The President, the Congress, the media, the public at large. A blind friendship. With time this friendship has developed into a danger to Israel... To the full text of the Gush Shalom ad from this week's Ha'aretz

Sept 4 1998 Thomas O'Dwyer on "Lonely are the wired"

Sept 3 1998 Gush Shalom ad for this week - Pockets of Terror The settlers have created pockets of terror. Regions without law and law-enforcement. They shoot. They hit. They break. They destroy... This Terror endangers not only the Palestinians. It endangers all of us. It will bring upon us terrible bloodshed. To the full ad, a once screen text.

Sept 3 1998 Compassionate Listening Citizen diplomats in Israel use active listening to help build the foundation for Jewish/Palestinian reconciliation - an article from Yes, a Journal of Positive Futures

Sept 1 1998 Report
By Michael Eilan

I hear the guns nearly every day now.
There was no teachers strike in the north
Because we live close to the border
And they don't want kids to wait for the school bus
When the shelling begins.
So my youngest went to school and was
Hit by a hornet on a late summer patrol.
He came back home with a melted ice cube and a headache.

A neighbor came by and said
Palestinian farmers can't get to their fields Because the settlers brandish guns.
He said we should help them with their olives
After the first rain, so I said yes and listened to the planes.

I know it's harder in Russia
With salaries chopped just before the winter
And that the figs are now as perfect
As the people are crazy
even in the morning light
Of another perfect world.



Michael Eilan is an English language poet living in the Galilee. You can write to him at eilan@datasphere.co.il - More poems by Michael Eilan

July 23 Towards a Redeployment in the West Bank a map by Michel Opatowski

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