Brit Tzedek v'Shalom

Jewish Alliance for Justice and Peace

Educational Resources

recommended articles, August/September 2003

• The Price of Not Keeping the Peace
  by Rabbi Arthur Hertzburg, New York Times, August 27, 2003
  
  Jewish scholar Rabbi Arthur Hertzburg argues that the United States must take punitive action against both Israel and the Palestinians to force them to agree to a settlement. He believes that "the mainstream in Israel and in the Jewish Diaspora will be grateful to America for saving Israel from itself."
  [read more]
  
  
• A Failed Israeli Society Collapses While Its Leaders Remain Silent by MK Avraham Burg, Forward, Aug 29, 2003
  by Avraham Burg
  
  Knesset member and former chairman of the Jewish Agency for Israel, Avraham Burg, eloquently warns us that "crying out is a moral imperative...[because] we cannot keep the territories and preserve a Jewish majority in the world's only Jewish state - not by means that are human and moral and Jewish."
  [read more]
  
  
• Separation Now
  by Amram Mitzna, Ha'aretz, August 31, 2003
  
  Former Labor Party leader MK Amram Mitzna ominously warns that "the continued control of Judea, Samaria, and Gaza mean the liquidation of Zionism and the end of the Jewish state" [or "we are currently at a critical point that will decide whether Israel will continue to exist as a democratic Jewish state or become a binational state in which there will be an Arab majority within a few years."]
  [read more]
  
  
• How to Talk About Israel
  by Iam Buruma, New York Times Magazine, August 31, 2003
  
  Professor Buruma reviews many of the myths around the US-Israel alliance and the anti-Semitic accusations of Jewish power.
  [read more]
  
  
• Sharon is Saved From the Threat of Peace
  by Aluf Benn, Ha'aretz, September 4, 2003
  
  Benn argues that the President Bush's fading political fortunes and the growing quagmire in Iraq are closing "the window of opportunity" for peacemaking opened up by the Iraq War. Benn believes Bush is shelving the Road Map, because he fears the domestic political repercussions of pressuring Israel and the Palestinians during an election year.
  [read more]
  
  
• The Wailing Wall
  by Thomas Friedman, New York Times, September 7, 2003
  
  Thomas Friedman argues that Israelis feel they need the security wall for protection from suicide bombers, but the key is where that wall is built. Friedman believes that if it’s built along the Green Line, close to the boundaries proposed by President Clinton, it could establish the basis for peace; conversely, a wall that cuts deeply into the West Bank would be a "disaster".
  [read more]
  
  
• What are We Supposed to Hear When We Listen to the Shofar?
  by Rabbi Edward Feld, Shalom Center, September 9, 2003
  
  In this eloquent Rosh Hashanah article Rabbi Edward Feld explains how the sound of the shofar is suppose to remind to feel "the pain that was caused the mother of our enemy."
  [read more]
  
  
• Hillel Cafe
  by Yitzhak Frankenthal, September 9, 2003 Founder of the Israeli-Palestinian Bereaved Families for Peace
  
  Frankenthal berates Israel's leadership for failing to recognize that this war of Occupation can not be won and believing that "by using terror to counter terror they can give us security." "How long will it take us to wake up from this ongoing folly? How many more body bags will it take? Adonai ehad ­ G-od is the only unshakeable truth, not any political creed....shame on you, leaders of the nations."
  [read more]
  
  
• Breaking Death's Grip
  by Thomas Friedman, New York Times, September 11, 2003
  
  Friedman comments on how the madness of suicide bombings is becoming a routine part of Israeli life. Now is the time, says Freidman, for the American and Israeli governments to remove settlements and push the peace process before the madness spreads to the U.S.
  [read more]
  
  
• Oslo: The Guillotine of Israeli Politicians
  by Yossi Verter, Ha'aretz, September 11, 2003
  
  Verter reports on Israeli public opinion on the 10th anniversary of the ill-fated Oslo Accords. He suggests that while the Oslo Accords themselves failed, most Israelis still believe that its "guiding principles will serve again in the future as the basis for negotiations and for a peace agreement with the Palestinians."
  [read more]
  
  
• Middle East Math
  Editorial, New York Times, September 12, 2003
  
  This New York Times editorial blames both Palestinian terrorism and Israeli settlement-building for the collapse of the peace process. They call for a settlement freeze arguing that "ending settlement in the occupied lands is central to the survival of the Jewish state." In conclusion,"true support for Israel means helping it see through its pain and rage to its own best interest."
  [read more]
  
  
• The Price of Settlements
  Ha'artez, September 26, 2003
  
  This special New Year's supplement from Ha'aretz explores the cost of continued Israeli settlement expansion - which greatly exceed the NIS 800 million spent on them - to the Israeli economy and society.
  [read more]