Ariga: March 2002

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March 31 2002 Arab Peace Now! A courageous Egyptian Intellectual Speaks Out for Peace
By Mohamed Mosaad

The violence in Israel and Palestine has reached an unprecedented high level. This is the everyday morning news! The vicious circle of violence has, as everyone knows, no end. The question is, what or whom are we waiting for? Are we waiting for the politically stupid Israeli Government, the strategically blind Palestinian Authority, the very indifferent United States, the perpetually begging/condemning Europe, the yawning Arab countries, or what? For one and a half years all of these parties have been proving, in every way, how helpless they are..."

March 30 2002 Added UN Security Council Resolution 1402 to the Treaties section

March 29 2002 From Gush Shalom: The Peace Offer and the War Offer - Sharon made his choice.

March 29 2002 Added The Arab (Saudi) Peace Initiative to the Treaties section

March 24 2002 Conscientious Objection and the Democratization of Israel By Baruch Kimmerling Today in Israel, there is no greater moral or democratic act than conscientious objection to serving in the Occupied Territories. Those who claim that objection comes from ideological and political motivations are indeed correct, because the military oppression of the Palestinians is indeed the heart of the issue. Objection is the step which works to fix the democratic regime in Israel - and not by subversion from underneath, but by repair (and not mere undermining) of the foundations for legitimacy on which Israel is founded...

March 22 2002 What shall we call this war? by Robert Rosenberg: Every war needs a name, just to remember it as distinct from other wars, when in fact, as most rational people by now understand, all wars -- or almost all wars -- are pretty much the same: death, destruction, despair, and the damnation that the politicians deserve for sending the young to die...

March 16, 2002 Len and Libby Traubman from the Jewish-Palestinian Living Room Dialogue Group write that PROMISES, a 90-minute film that has a chance to change a lot of people's minds and hearts about the Middle East conflict, has just been reviewed in the The New York Times. It's a kind of "out of the mouths of babes" documentary about Israeli and Arab kids and how they parrot their parents -- until they get to meet each other and find out life is very different than what they thought... It also just might win an Oscar for Best Documentary on Sunday, March 24th. What a message to the world: when people will make a personal connection, peace and relationships have a chance! Click here for the PROMISES website

March 15, 2002 Demonstration at the Prime Minister's in Jerusalem Saturday Night "STOP THE BLOODSHED -- GET OUT OF THE TERRITORIES" Saturday night, 16 March, 7:30 PM, the Peace Coalition will hold a demonstration outside the Prime Minister's residence in Jerusalem.

March 13 2002 UN Security Council Resolution 1379, added to Ariga's Treaties section, is the first UN Security Council resolution that refers explicitly to a two-state solution; significantly it was proposed by the U.S. -- and accepted by a 14-0 vote, with Syria abstaining.

This is not the "Oslo War" nor a war for "Israel's existence." All the fighting is about the settlements, where successive Israeli governments have knuckled under to the same kinds of zealots who destroyed the last Jewish commonwealth 2,000 year ago. Israel can not deny the Palestinians a right of return to the state of Israel unless it gives up its claims for a right of return to the "Biblical homelands" of "Judea, Samaria, and Gaza." (RBR) For a concise report on the Jewish settlements in the West Bank and Gaza, click over to The Foundation for Middle East Peace's Special report on the settlements.

March 12 2002 The Midterm Assessment -- by Gershon Baskin, Ph.D. of IPCRI: "It seems to me that now is the time is right to offer a midterm assessment of the Palestinian Intifada and the Israeli war against it. In my view we have crossed the mid-point, not necessarily in terms of time, but in terms of the final outcomes. At this point in time, I would conclude that Israel is winning the battle but losing the war and conversely, the Palestinians are losing the battle but they now know that they will win the war... "

March 11 2002 Send an email to press home the point: Talk, talk, talk, is better than shoot, shoot, shoot. Make the Israelis and Palestinians start talking instead of shooting. Use the Contact Them page to send a message to key political figures. Please be sure to include your full name and address -- if you are an American citizen, write to the Americans, if your are an Israeli, write to the Israelis, if you are Palestinian, write to the Palestinians, if you are Europeans, write to the Europeans, and if you're from aywhere else, write to the UN.

March 4 2002 From Bitterlemons.org Two Palestinin views and two Israeli views of the Saudi Initiative Bitter Lemons is the name of a wonderful book by Larence Durell and it's also the name of a terrific web site run by Ghassan Khatib and Yossi Alpher, a Palestinian and Israeli who share their thoughts -- and call on a large network of associates who share their thoughts -- in succinct, pithy articles on various issues facing the Israelis and Palestinians. Their latest issue is on the Saudi initiative, and is useful reading if you're trying to figure out where you stand on the issue. (R.R.) Caught in the crossfire -- the Saudi Initiative from Israeli and Palestinian perspectives, including brief interviews with Sa'eb Erakat and Danb Meridor on the issue. Reposted at Ariga.

March 3, 2002 Ariga Correspondent Gila Svirsky, of the Coalition of Women for Just Peace, reports on the state of the peace movement, and how the killing on both sides is making people from both sides raise their voices in protest. She calls her piece About moral backbone,

MASS PROTEST MARCH IN JERUSALEM SATURDAY NIGHT
On Saturday Night, March 2 19:30, The Peace Coalition will hold a march in Jerusalem from Zion Square (Jaffa corner of Ben Yehuda) to the PM's residence, where a rally will be held at 20:00. The march is part of continuing activities in the new "Get Out of the Territories - Get Back to Ourselves" campaign. The campaign is aimed at creating public debate about the continued occupation and its impact on Israel's future. Two weeks ago, over 15,000 people attended a march and rally in Tel-Aviv. Every weekend, activists distribute materials at intersections countrywide and vigils are held at the PM's residence in Jerusalem and the Defense Ministry in Tel-Aviv. Other mass activities are planned for the coming months.

Ami Isserof of Mideastweb outlines what's gone wrong in the process -- going back to the start in 1917 -- and proposes a series of steps that could help both sides in the tragic conflict between Palestinians and Israelis face reality. But it will take international enforcement, he says -- and it's not clear the international community is ready to take the risk of offending one or the other side. See http://www.mideastweb.org/preconditions.htm at Mideastweb.

Gush Shalom, the veteran Israseli peace bloc, calls the Saudi Initiative: A DREAM COMES TRUE
The Crown Prince (and actual ruler) of Saudi Arabia has made a historic offer: The whole Arab world will recognize Israel and establish normal relations with it, and Israel will withdraw to the pre-1967 border, in Jerusalem included.
Before the settlements disturbed our minds, this would have looked like a dream come true.
The Palestinians, Jordan and Egypt, the whole Western world and the world at large have welcome this amazing initiative. All except the government of Israel.
The Sharon-Peres government prefers the occupied territories and the settlements to peace. It is resorting to old political tricks in order to empty the initiative of its contents.
If we do not raise our voices now, we shall commit another historic crime of omission, a tragedy for generations to come.
Gush Shalom announcement for this week.

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