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October 2002
October 30, 2002 Added Givat Haviva and The Middle Way to the Human Rights and Peace Groups resources page, and added a new poem by Jay Seth Guberman to the Poetry pages.
I wish to thank each and every one of you, who have come here today to take a stand against violence and for peace. This government, which I am privileged to head, together with my friend Shimon Peres, decided to give peace a chance -- a peace that will solve most of Israel's problems. I was a military man for 27 years. I fought as long as there was no chance for peace. I believe that there is now a chance for peace, a great chance. We must take advantage of it for the sake of those standing here, and for those who are not here -- and they are many. I have always believed that the majority of the people want peace and are ready to take risks for peace. In coming here today, you demonstrate, together with many others who did not come, that the people truly desire peace and oppose violence. Violence erodes the basis of Israeli democracy. It must be condemned and isolated. This is not the way of the State of Israel. In a democracy there can be differences, but the final decision will be taken in democratic elections, as the 1992 elections which gave us the mandate to do what we are doing, and to continue on this course. I want to say that I am proud of the fact that representatives of the countries with whom we are living in peace are present with us here, and will continue to be here: Egypt, Jordan, and Morocco, which opened the road to peace for us. I want to thank the President of Egypt, the King of Jordan, and the King of Morocco, represented here today, for their partnership with us in our march towards peace. But, more than anything, in the more than three years of this Government's existence, the Israeli people has proven that it is possible to make peace, that peace opens the door to a better economy and society; that peace is not just a prayer. Peace is first of all in our prayers, but it is also the aspiration of the Jewish people, a genuine aspiration for peace. There are enemies of peace who are trying to hurt us, in order to torpedo the peace process. I want to say bluntly, that we have found a partner for peace among the Palestinians as well: the PLO, which was an enemy, and has ceased to engage in terrorism. Without partners for peace, there can be no peace. We will demand that they do their part for peace, just as we will do our part for peace, in order to solve the most complicated, prolonged, and emotionally charged aspect of the Israeli-Arab conflict: the Palestinian- Israeli conflict. This is a course which is fraught with difficulties and pain. For Israel, there is no path that is without pain. But the path of peace is preferable to the path of war. I say this to you as one who was a military man, someone who is today Minister of Defense and sees the pain of the families of the IDF soldiers. For them, for our children, in my case for our grandchildren, I want this Government to exhaust every opening, every possibility, to promote and achieve a comprehensive peace. Even with Syria, it will be possible to make peace. This rally must send a message to the Israeli people, to the Jewish people around the world, to the many people in the Arab world, and indeed to the entire world, that the Israeli people want peace, support peace.
For this, I thank you.
"The choice is either non-violence or non-existence"In the aftermath of the Oct. 13th violence, the inhabitants of Um-El Fahem may well be lost for words, when early next month some 500 non-violence-activists are expected to walk through the town in complete silence. "The walk", an apolitical Arab-Israeli peace movement, began in April this year. Now, for the third time, its members will walk the earth in peace, in single file, wearing white sashes and carrying a message of healing. With greater numbers than ever, and with an array of acclaimed artists and thinkers joining in, the "walk", which is now becoming a genuine movement. Inspired by ancient eastern traditions, walking in silence has caught up as a new form of protest globally. As one of the walk's founders, Dr. Stephen Fulder defined it in London's Jewish Chronicle, (March 29 2002): "This is a call for sanity and for individuals to come back to themselves and to realise that peace is possible." One of the highlights of the walk is expected on Sunday, Nov. 3rd - when artists and writers will join the silent walk in Um-El Fahem and meet up with the mayor. Later in the day, the father of Omri Goldin, who was killed in Meron Junction bus bombing, will meet with some families of the October 2000 riot's victims. The words of Vietnamese peace activist Thich Nhat Hanh, expressed following the Sep. 11 tragedy, seem to resonate the spirit and objective of the walk: "Terror is in the human heart ... its root cannot be located by the military. Bombs and missiles cannot reach it, let alone destroy it. Only with the practice of calming and looking deeply can our insight reveal and identify this root. Only with the practice of deep listening and compassion can it be transformed and removed. Darkness cannot be dissipated with more darkness ... Those of us who have the light should display the light and offer it so that the world will not sink into total darkness." For more Info: http://www.middleway.org or call Ron Cohen: 591073-053 October 9, 2002 MachsomWatch (Checkpoint watch) has been writing daily reports since they began their activities in February 2001. This document includes the daily reports, arranged by zones, following a brief introduction explaining the context of the checkpoints in Israeli government policy and a description of the checkpoints visited. There is a glossary of army personnel and a few unfamiliar terms used in the reports. Two relevant maps are also in the report. October 8, 2002 Yehuda Stolov reports on "The Humanity of the Other," an interfaith meeting in Jerusalem. For the first time in two years, an Israeli organzation - the Interfaith Encounter Association - and a Palestinian orgnization - the Nablus Youth Federation - organized in the Holy Land a joint conference that was open to the wide public. The conference took place at Tantur Center in Jerusalem and was funded by the European Commission. We were men and women, secular and religious, Jews, Christians, Muslims and even one visiting Native American, from across Israel and the Palestinian Authority. Walking My Son to Daycare By Chris Voll The sun, below the hilltop forest's crown, does nothing for the thin strand slung between the front lawn maples, careless as a surplus hammock. Still, it's worth stopping for. Easily twice my height, the distance tree to tree - and to think some nameless spider had hurled itself into the nighttime wind and hoped for a favorable landing. Evil Kenivel at the Grand Canyon had less faith. My son, in his second summer, wants to know what I'm looking at. I show him what there is to see. Not much. But my mind, detached, rewinds Morning Edition, and plays back place names. Gaza, Dehaisha, Bet Lechem. I have seen their faces. Jenin, Balata, Beitjala I could spot across a crowded room, blindfolded. And I am faced again with yesterday's boy, surrounded by olive soldiers in flak jackets and visored helmets, M16s ready for action, terror, anything. When I found his picture online, I looked him in his screaming ten-year-old eyes caught inside the twisted T-shirt the soldiers snagged him by, and knew that I too would have wet myself. My son pesters at my knees, begs me to carry him. I wish my arms were strong enough for always. In the gaunt light of this oncoming day, I wish for enough hope to make it through. I wish for a favorable landing, for one of us at least. Chris Voll says, "I'm a father of two, and work as an editor at Plough Publishing. I want to add my voice to the call for peace, since it is always 'better to light a candle than to curse the darkness.'" The poem also appears in Ariga's poetry 'zine. October 7, 2002 Get The Facts to the Public - a report on attending the Barghouti trial, by Dorothy Naor. "I have long been perturbed by the nearly total silence in the Israeli and International media about daily occurrences in the Occupied Territories - e.g., the number of Palestinians killed, injured (Israeli deaths and injuries are always reported), the amount of land expropriated, the numbers of homes demolished. As a result of this silence, attacks against Israelis appear to be committed in a vacuum. For instance, few people know that the most recent attacks which killed 8 Israelis in 3 days, were preceded by a week in which 72 Palestinians were killed by the IDF. Yesterday I decided to do something about the situation, albeit in a very small way, a sort of preliminary step to test the waters. I had planned to go to the Marwan Barghouti trial in Tel Aviv ... I decided to demonstrate at the courthouse entrance holding up a placard with figures showing the numbers of lives lost in the years since the signing of the Oslo agreements." October 6 2002 Heart Hacking, by Rachel Neiman. "I should start out by stating that I am by no means the world's expert on Internet dating. On the other hand, maybe I am. I've been registered with various dating sites for almost six years now ... so, I've had expertise conferred on me, I've had my own experiences, and I've heard lots of stories about other people's experiences (all names have been changed). Also, I know about a secret Internet dating weapon so potent that it has nuclear capability! But this will be revealed later on... " Added Nisan Young Women Leaders (Jewish-Arab) to the human rights and peace groups section at Ariga. October 4, 2002 Despite the discouraging times, Israeli activists continue to struggle on many fronts. Gila Svirsky reports. September 2002
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