ISRAEL HORIZONS magazine is the periodical of Meretz USA, published in hard copy four times a year. Previously associated with Americans for Progressive Israel, it has been published, more or less continuously, since 1952. Subscription rates for the print edition are $25 per year; $18 for seniors and students. Supporters are encouraged to contribute $36 or more to Meretz USA and will also receive a one-year subscription to Israel Horizons. Click here for more information.
Current Issue
MERETZ Matters
- New Director, Other Appointments
- Statement On Ending Violence
- Naomi Chazan, Abu Vilan, Arthur Hertzberg
- Chaim Oron: New leader of Meretz party
COLUMN LEFT: On the ‘Jewish State’
By Ralph Seliger:
In the fall of 2007, the New Israel Fund (NIF) brought Israeli speakers to a series of forums around the US to examine the ethnic, cultural and economic diversity of Israel. Dr. Naomi Chazan, the former Knesset deputy speaker and ex-Meretz MK ... delivered a stirring but disturbing keynote address at the New York event. ...
There was discussion of the "Jewish state" and how this concept resonates (or not) with American Jews. On this matter, Eliezer Yaari ... stated a preference for calling Israel a "state of Jews" rather than the ideological construct of a "Jewish state." ... Click for original blog post and for version at "In These Times" magazine Web site.
Teen Voices from the Holy Land
From the book of the same name by Mahmoud Watad and Leonard Grob:
During the summer of 2004, 34 teenagers, Palestinian and Israeli, were interviewed for this book. All were asked to speak about their ordinary, day-to-day lives and about their dreams for the future. We chose to interview young people, ages 12 to18. ... The aim of the authors is to provide you with a window into the soul of each child, seeking the hope that lies in the innocence of youth.
Eco-Chalutzim and Eco-Tourists
by Noam Dolgin:
... On a "Tech and Teva [nature]" trip to Israel (February 2008) with 34 Jewish educators from Long Island, I had the opportunity to meet both olim (immigrants) and tourists, and see how their dedication to Israel’s environment has changed their relationship to Israel and themselves. Through the olim we met, leaders in Israel’s emerging environmental scene, we encountered a new kind of chalutz (pioneer) – an educated, motivated and enthusiastic immigrant ready to bring environmental responsibility to a country that desperately needs it. ...
OTHER VOICES: One-State Solution Means No Solution
By Dr. Philip Mendes:
... For me two states has always meant simply the right of Israel to exist as a sovereign Jewish state within roughly the pre-1967 Green Line borders, and equally the right of the Palestinians to an independent state within the West Bank and Gaza Strip. This means no coerced Jewish settlements within Palestinian territory, and equally no coerced return of Palestinian refugees within Green Line Israel. Link to article online at Meretz USA Weblog.
OTHER VOICES: Reclaiming Zionism
By Ami Isseroff:
... To our Israeli Arab and Druze fellow citizens we must extend the hand of friendship and an invitation to participate. ... They are Israelis. If they want to belong with us, we must include them.
A nation of merchants and scholars became farmers, workers and soldiers. Swampland became farms, sand dunes became hi-tech cities. [Yet] We bartered our independence for a mess of foreign aid. ... We subsidize yeshiva students, but we make engineers pay for their education.
REMINISCENCES: Mordechai Oren: Radical Socialist Betrayed by Stalinism
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.
‘Peoplehood’ As Jewish Organizing Principle
By Charney V. Bromberg: Beginning a discussion
... Much has been written about "Post Zionism." It is essential to recognize that, over the past 60 years, the Zionist movement has accomplished what became its primary goal – the creation of a Jewish state; and today, Israel’s existence is not threatened militarily so much as it is by its own political choices. Moreover, Zionism’s secondary purpose – of bringing Diaspora Jewry to Israel – has pretty much run its course, providing a refuge for those who need it, but having failed to convince roughly half the global Jewish population ... that Jewish fulfillment is in Israel and in Israel alone.
But I do not believe that Zionism needs to be retired so much as it needs to be transformed. ...
DIRECTOR'S COLUMN: American Jews and Israel: Friendship, Not Worship
By Ron Skolnik:
... participants on [the Meretz USA] Symposium are friends of Israel – not "yes-men," not "fans" or "devotees"– friends who care enough to be honest, even when it hurts.
... how many more Jews are turning off to Israel, because they can't help but feel that the prevailing model for interaction is far too shallow, too servile, too uninspiring?
Click here to read entire article online.
EDITOR'S ODDS & ENDS
'Zionism became popular among the Americans, who rightly detested the Nazis.... [but Israel] today is practicing the principles of apartheid ... and it controls the most important financial centers in the United States.' Click for entire statement online, as reported by the Cuban Press Service.
Yossi Alpher: Remove settlements and outposts in any given sector of the West Bank and Israel's security problems there become far easier to manage without totally disrupting the lives of hundreds of thousands of Palestinians.