Israeli Independence Day, April 29

On Saturday night we went to a concert at Temple Micah, a benefit for Open House, organized by Rabbi Adam Morris. Last summer Rabbi Morris traveled to Israel with a group of high school students who had been studying the conflict between Jews and Palestinians. He and his family have strong ties to Israel, but this trip was different.

He discovered on this trip that his story - the story of his family's ties to Israel and their hopes and dreams for the future - was not the story of all of the residents of Israel. As he met Palestinians who told a different story, his own story was forever changed. He discovered that his own story needed to be retold.

He was also inspired by his meeting with Dalia Landau, whose story is told in the book, The Lemon Tree. In 1948, after her family came to Israel from Bulgaria, they moved into the house in al-Ramle, the house with the lemon tree in the back yard. They were told the Arab owners had abandoned the house. Then in 1965 she met Bashir, whose family had been forced to leave the house in 1948. Her journey of understanding is the story of "The Lemon Tree." She eventually founded Open House, a center created to bring Jews, Christians and Muslims together, to hear one another's stories.

As Rabbi Morris prepared, with the rest of his community, to celebrate Israeli Independence Day on April 29, he realized that he needed to find a way to celebrate that honored his new understanding of Israel's existence. He wrote about his ambivalence and his decision to plan this concert to benefit Open House:

"This year I am planning to do something with this ambivalence! I havedrawn such great inspiration from Dalia Landau<http://www.sandytolan.com/the-lemon-tree> and Open House<http://friendsofopenhouse.org/> - the community center she opened inRamla, Israel to promote co-existence and tolerance between Israeli Jewsand Palestinians. So, at the beginning of the week of IsraeliIndependence Day (April 25th @ 7:30pm), Temple Micah will be hosting aconcert to benefit Open House. Our resident musicians, David Ross and Hal Aqua will lead the concert band in an evening of music of peace,hope and justice."

Rabbi Morris's Yom Kippur sermon in the fall of 2008, is a letter to his two children, telling them what he learned, his message to them about his experience in Israel. He concludes: "the moment that we who were strangers in Egypt, forget how to treat the stranger; the moment that we who have been abused by those in power, become abusers to those over whom we have power; the moment that we create within another human being an inkling of the humiliation, subjugation or despair that Jews have known through the course of history than we betray the very essence of what we are called to be as Jews."

And so, as the Jewish community celebrates Israeli Independence Day, Rabbi Morris encourages Jews to travel with him the journey of getting to know the other. The concert on Saturday was a beginning.

Read some of his journey on his blog: http://www.rabbimo.blogspot.com/

The lyrics of one of the songs we heard Saturday night, "Two Thousand Years," by singer/songwriter David Ross, speak eloquently to the struggle of the Jewish community:

In the beginning, there was the cold and the night,
Prophets and angels gave us the fire and the light.
Man was triumphant, armed with the faith and the will,
That even the darkest ages couldn’t kill.

Too many kingdoms; too many flags on the field.
So many battles, so many wounds to be healed.
Time is relentless, only true love perseveres.
It’s been a long time and now I’m with you,
After two thousand years.

This is our moment, here at the crossroads of time.
We hope our children carry our dreams down the line.
They are the vintage—what kind of life will they live?
Is this a curse or a blessing that we give?

Sometimes I wonder, why are we so blind to fate?
Without compassion, there can be no end to hate;
No end to sorrow, caused by the same endless fears.
Why can’t we learn from all we’ve been through,
After two thousand years?

There will be miracles, after the last war is won.
Science and poetry rule in the new world to come.
Prophets and angels, gave us the power to see,
What an amazing future there will be.

And in the evening, after the fire and the light,
One thing is certain: nothing can hold back the night.
Time is relentless, and as the past disappears,
We’re on the verge of all things new.
We are two thousand years.

Tuesday, May 5, 7 pm, in Denver, we will be discussing Dalia Landau's story, the "Lemon Tree." If you'd like to join us, please email me: janlmiller@qwest.net

JERUSALEM, April 26, 2009 (AFP) - Israel will seal off the occupied West Bank for three days beginning at midnight on Sunday ahead of its annual Independence Day celebrations, the army said.

The Palestinian territory will be sealed until midnight on Wednesday, an army spokesman told AFP.

During that time, entry into Israel from the occupied West Bank will be severely limited to urgent humanitarian cases and journalists, he said.

Since the outbreak of the second Palestinian uprising in September 2000, Israel has usually sealed off the West Bank ahead of major holidays, saying the move is necessary to prevent attacks.

The Jewish state marks its 61st anniversary on Wednesday, in accordance with the Jewish calendar.
Copyright (c) 2009 Agence France Presse: http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/rwb.nsf/db900SID/RMOI-7RGHR5?OpenDocument

Soldier's Aunt Struggles, Shares Her Own Pilgrim's Tale

From the aunt of an IDF soldier, worries what the occupation is doing to him. She read an article in March 21 Haaretz and shares her concerns with the broader Jewish community, through Jewish Peace News.

Dear all...

My nephew, whom I greatly love, was conscripted not long ago into the IDF after a year of national service, and chose to join a combat unit. To my knowledge, I am the only one in the family who is unhappy about all of that (except the national service part, when he worked with disadvantaged urban youth).

However, this is not my child, but my sister's child. Since I am not the parent, what could I have said? How much could I have interfered?

I sent him an email when he was inducted, saying, basically: "Sometimes after people get in the army, they discover that it is not what they thought it would be and they are troubled when they learn how it really is. If this happens to you, there are resources -- people you can talk to, outside of the army"-- and I gave him some suggestions.... names of organizations he can contact. --Meantime he has finished basic training and is in an officer's course. I wonder what slogan will be on the T shirt someone in his unit will print to mark the end of the course (see below)?

Will I be sorry later that I did not dare to interfere more vocally? I think about what he will almost certainly be required to inflict on others, including noncombatants, including children, unless he opts out somewhere along the way, a choice requiring a very strong resistance to groupthink and to a lifetime of brainwashing, a choice grounded in a profound inner conviction that the IDF is wrong, wrongly deployed, an instrument of a criminal and oppressive national policy, massively transgressing the norms we are supposed to hold dear -- a conviction which I can't see how he can possibly have developed, all of a sudden. And, since we become what we do, I think also about what this behavior of his will be doing to him. When he comes home on leave, surely he will be treated like a good son, a good brother. No one will ask for details of what he has been doing since his last leave. How is he to know he is doing wrong if everyone around him acts like all is well? That vacuum, that silence, seems to me to be criminal. That silence makes the families of IDF occupation soldiers into accessories to the murder of noncombatants. Doesn't it?

Today, after reading Uri Blau's "No Virgins, No Terror Attacks" in Haaretz, I sent my nephew another email - pasted below. I try to be gentle with him because I keep reminding myself that this is not a volunteer army. My nephew was conscripted, and if all the brainwashing he has been subjected to, and his misplaced patriotism, made him a willing conscript into an army of occupation, still he was a conscript, nonetheless. That distinction, of course, will have no bearing on his culpability for any war crimes he may commit while in uniform.... Not even the Qassams fired from Gaza at civilian populations in Israel will have a bearing on his culpability for any war crimes he may commit while in uniform...

Dear G.,

I hope you are well and doing OK, hon...

When I saw this article (below), I immediately thought of you. You are the one I worry about these days, for a lot of reasons. What they talk about in this article is one of the reasons...
Try to take care of yourself somehow in the midst of all the insanity.

Read the Haaretz article online: http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1072466.html
I rest my case.
--Deb

Ir Amim Works for Equitable and Stabel Jerusalem

There are many Jewish organizations in Israel that are working to stop constuction of Israeli settlements on Arab lands. They do this because the settlements interfere with a future two-state solution and they fear that the settlements destabilize Israeli society. Ir
Amim ("city of nations") is one of these organizations. Their non-profit organization is "founded in order to actively engage in those issues impacting on Israeli-Palestinian relations in Jerusalem and on the political future of the city. Ir Amim seeks to render Jerusalem a more viable and equitable city, while generating and promoting a more politically sustainable future." They seek to maintain Jerusalem as a city of "two peoples and three religions."

Ir Amim is involved in:

• Monitoring and exposing critical developments in Jerusalem, and informing / alerting target audiences in Israel and in the world.
• Legal advocacy aimed at halting or mitigating unilateral actions that harm the fabric of life in Jerusalem, and create obstacles to reaching an agreed-upon future for the city and the region.
• Policy advocacy with decision makers, both local and international.
• Public outreach and media work aimed at raising awareness of developments in the city and understanding of their local and global significance. Activities include study tours of East Jerusalem, professional seminars and public events.
• Strengthening, and working with, civil society organizations in East Jerusalem to advance a more equitable Jerusalem.

One more group working for peace and justice, walking with the Palestinians who have lived in East Jerusalem for many years, whose homes are threatened by the continuing construction of Israeli settlement in this Arab area. Read more about their work: http://www.ir-amim.org.il/eng/

Their map showing Israeli settlement-building in the Old City of Jerusalem: http://www.ir-amim.org.il/Eng/_Uploads/dbsAttachedFiles/HistoricBasinOldCityEng.jpg

Who Profits from the Israeli Occupation?

Jewish Peace News is a news clipping service that seeks to promote a just peace, Jews on their own pilgrimage of discovery of what it means to be Jewish in the context of the Middle East conflict: http://jewishpeacenews.blogspot.com/

Who Profits from the Israeli Occupation?
Announcing a new on-line database: www.whoprofits.org

Now, more then ever, Israeli activists need a powerful global movement to help us build a just peace in Israel/ Palestine. Looking for effective tools for ending the occupation, we have launched a new website listing companies directly involved in the occupation of the West Bank, East Jerusalem, the Gaza Strip and the Golan Heights. The grassroots initiative, of the Israeli Coalition of Women for Peace, includes a database and an information center, and reflects an on-going two-year effort, rigorous research, documentation and site visits.

This unprecedented on-line resource already lists about 200 companies, and hundreds more will be added during 2009, offering an extensive and intricate mapping of the corporate aspects and interests in the continued occupation. The website offers a new useful categorization of all corporate interests in the occupation, and exposes specific examples of direct involvement of many international and Israeli companies for the first time. In tracing ownership links it shows in detail how some of Israel’s largest corporations are tied in with the occupation.

The database allows for advanced searches, such as: Which U.S. corporations support the West Bank military checkpoints? Which of the companies are listed in the London stock-exchange? What settlements’ production is formally registered inside Israel? Note, however, that the on-line data is always partial, always growing, and please send us any relevant information, further requests for information or suggestions.

As Israeli activists, we feel obligated to try and educate ourselves and others about the economic incentives and corporate involvement in the occupation, but this is not enough. You can support our efforts by continuing this investigation in your own country, by informing others of our website, or by sending us a much needed donation.
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Jewish Peace News editors:
Joel Beinin
Racheli Gai
Rela Mazali
Sarah Anne Minkin
Judith Norman
Lincoln Shlensky
Rebecca Vilkomerson
Alistair Welchman
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Jewish Peace News archive and blog: http://jewishpeacenews.blogspot.com

International Human Rights Workers accompany Gaza Farmers, fired on by Israeli forces

This very day, human rights workers are in Gaza, accompanying Palestinian farmers who are trying to harvest their crops on their own land on Palestinian territory in Gaza, near the border with Israel. These human rights workers are pilgrims on a journey of self-discovery and accompaniment. This is their story (take two minutes to watch it on video):

Palestinian farmers, accompanied by international Human Rights Workers (HRWs), were fired upon by Israeli forces in the village of Khoza’a, near Khan Younis, this morning. The farmers and HRWs were attempting to work on land around 300m from the ‘Green Line’.

"We were accompanying farmers to gather peas from their lands. The farmers, for the most part, were elderly men and women with their sons. There were many farmers spread out over a large area. We were only in the fields for about five minutes before the Israeli forces began firing. I believe the firing was coming from four army jeeps and a hummer. The shots were coming very close, and were sniper-type of shots.

One old woman was so paralyzed by fear that she couldn’t move off of the ground before we were finally able to accompany her out of the fields. While the majority of the farmers left the area, some say they must return to work the land later on in the day. There is great concern that the Israeli army will continue their targeting of these farmers." - Eva Bartlett (Canada) - International Solidarity Movement

"I have two children. I must go back to my fields to work there today. This is our life, what can we do?" - Mohammad Abu Jela, Farmer from Khoza’a.

Four Palestinian farmers have been shot by Israeli forces while working within 700m of the ‘Green Line’ since the 27th January 2009. On the 18th February, farm worker Mohammad Il Ibrahim, 20, was shot in the right leg as farmers, together with the international Human Rights Workers, attempted to leave the area having worked on their land for 2 hours in full view of the Israeli forces.

Artwork is for the Free Gaza Art Festival, © Greer Valley

On the 18th January, Maher Abu-Rajileh (24) from Khoza’a village, was killed by Israeli soldiers while working on his land 400m from the Green Line. On the 20th January, Israeli soldiers shot Waleed al-Astal (42) of Al Qarara (near Khan Younis) in his right foot, while on the 27th January, Anwar al-Buraim was shot in the neck and killed. Read more....