Conflict

Report from Israeli-Palestinian Academic Conference

March 31, 2008: With the support of Meretz USA, the Jewish Academic Network for Israeli Palestinian Peace sponsored the First International Academic Conference on the Israeli-Palestinian peace process: Pathways to Peace. The Conference took place on March 28-29 at Central Connecticut State University and was co-sponsored by the American Task Force on Palestine and the Geneva Initiative North America. It featured top-level keynote speakers Herbert Kelman, Naomi Chazan, Stephen P. Cohen, Sami Adwan, Daniel Levy, Gaith al Omari, and Saliba Sarsar, as well as over 36 other presenters.

March 7, 2008

(click here to view the original Meretz USA weblog posting on the topic)

The brazen murder of eight yeshiva students, mostly teenagers, in a landmark mainstream Orthodox institution in Jerusalem, has convulsed Israel in sadness and outrage. That this has occurred within a week of the massive operation in the Gaza Strip, killing about 120 Palestinians, is no accident. About half, if not more, of this latter toll were of fighters of the terrorist factions, but dozens were non-combatant civilians, including children.

Briefing from MK Abu Vilan: Invasion or Ceasefire?

According to Meretz MK Avshalom (Abu) Vilan, who presented a briefing at Meretz USA's offices Beit Shalom last night (Thursday, February 28th), the two Ehuds - Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Defense Minister Ehud Barak - were disinclined as of this past Monday to respond to continuing rocket attacks from Gaza into Sderot by sending the Israeli army into the Gaza Strip. However, recent occurrences could change this opinion.

Gaza Continues to Bedevil Israel

Last Saturday night, in another of the truly bleak developments emanating from the Gaza Strip and western Negev desert, a Qassam rocket fired from northern Gaza hit the town of Sderot, seriously wounding an 8 year-old boy and moderately wounding his 19 year-old brother.

Op-ed by Yossi Beilin, chairman of Meretz-Yahad

The Israeli government is responsible for what is occurring in the western Negev. Sderot and many other communities in the area are under the daily threat of Qassam rockets, and the only answer being offered for this problem are solidarity visits by VIPs who get their pictures taken and leave: This situation cannot go on.

Meretz USA President Larry Lerner was recently interviewed by the New Jersey Jewish News. He relates his impressions following his visit to Israel and Palestine in the framework of Meretz USA's Israel Symposium. Read the interview.

January 21, 2008

The chairman of Meretz, MK Yossi Beilin, has stated that, "the humanitarian crisis and the blackout in Gaza play into Hamas' hands. This is an inhumane, un-Jewish and ineffective act, which is liable to save the Hamas politically, after Hamas lost support on the streets of Gaza over the last few months." According to Beilin, "instead of taking responsibility for the residents of the western Negev through a cease-fire that would also bring back Gilad Shalit, the government is choosing the worst option of all."

January 26, 2008

Meretz MK Zehava Gal-on has called upon the Prime Minister to order the lifting of the Gaza siege. "The decision to darken Gaza shows that the Prime Minister hasn't learned a thing and is engaging in the same rash method of making decisions involving collective punishment, which not only does not prevent the firing of Qassam rockets, but makes the problem worse. This fact is decisive proof that the Prime Minister hasn't kicked his habit, and is continuing to make decisions that cause more harm than good."

By Moshe Kagan:

... The left-Zionist parties, in what then was the Mandate of Palestine, welcomed the Russian Revolution with great enthusiasm, seeing it as a new beginning for Russian Jewry. ... Praise for the Soviet Union was abundant and pictures of Marx and Stalin decorated many public places. ... The reality turned out to be not so rosy.

... [Oren] was confined to a freezing solitary cell and tortured for days on end to admit to activities against the Soviet Union.... [A]fter three and half years in prison he was released, a broken man.

10/31/07

New York, NY...Meretz USA President Larry Lerner has expressed regret over Defense Minister Ehud Barak’s order to begin cutting the fuel and electricity supply to the Gaza Strip. Lerner termed the order, “an unfortunate decision that will only bring greater suffering to Israelis and Palestinians alike.”