Archive for March, 2007
In Washington, D.C., The American Task Force on Palestine (ATFP) held a briefing on March 23rd at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. The briefing was titled “Developing a Dual Israeli-Palestinian Historical Narrative”. Dr. Sami Adwan of Bethlehem University and Dr. Dan Bar-Or of Ben Gurion University presented their experiences as co-directors of the Peace Research Institute in the Middle East (PRIME) in developing and teaching the ‘Dual Historical Narrative’ booklets to their pupils. (more…)
March 27th, 2007
Posted by Chris
The following is my response to an article by SUNY Professor Emeritus Jerome Slater, published in Tikkun as “The Need Not to Know: The American Jewish Community and the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict,” and republished at AlterNet as “The Zionist Dream is Becoming a Nightmare,” posted on January 24. Prof. Slater was reviewing Tanya Reinhart’s polemic, The Road Map to Nowhere: Israel/Palestine Since 2003, published by Verso in 2006 (Prof. Reinhart suddenly passed away last week while on leave in the United States). That Tikkun and Alternet would publish his tirade without an alternative view reflects badly upon both.
While I do not have a problem with much of Jerome Slater’s indictment of Israel’s shortcomings and failings, I am struck by the strident and one-sided nature of his presentation. Slater’s analysis provides barely a hint that there are two sides that have continually made mistakes and committed wrongdoing in this conflict. (more…)
March 27th, 2007
Posted by Webmaster
“How do I discuss the Palestinian-Israeli conflict in a way that ackowledges the suffering and oppression faced by both people? How do I not demonize either group?” Similar questions are asked each day by diversity educators on college and university campuses across the United States. Unfortunately, few have been able to answer this important question.As a diversity educator working on a college campus, I have often been frustrated at the narrative around the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in American higher education. Undergraduate students at institutions of higher education in the United States are often challenged to understand the ways in which certain groups are privileged and some are discriminated against. In this work, there is often not a nuanced understanding of oppression. Targeted groups are the “victims” who are oppressed and have no power; agents are those with power and are the oppressor. Given that this discourse exists on campus, few educators are equipped to help students understand a conflict in which there are competing claims for self-determination and freedom from oppression. (more…)
March 26th, 2007
Posted by Chris
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology hopes to mobilize the world’s brainpower to solve one of its most troubling problems: the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Read more from Haaretz
March 23rd, 2007
Posted by Ron
Howard University’s administration has declared “null and void” a divest-from-Israel resolution recently voted on by a small number of its Arts and Sciences faculty.
The story was reported in The Jerusalem Post.
March 21st, 2007
Posted by Ron
On the left, in academia and in activist circles, it has become common to hear cartoon-like comments about Israel, comments that are simplistic to the point of caricature. Israeli public opinion is taken to be monolithic, with no mention of the peace movement or of broader opposition to the occupation. Israel is described as having been founded in league with imperialist powers (Britain and the US). Zionism is equated with imperialism and racism. The two-state solution is dismissed as Zionist. Palestinians are described in equally monolithic and simplistic terms: they are taken to support a one-state solution (presumably unanimously) and the one-state solution that they are taken to support is presumed to be progressive. Hezbollah is described as a liberation organization, fighting to defend the people of southern Lebanon. It is common to hear people on the left describe their politics as “anti-Israel.” There are many who see hostility to Israel and support for Palestine as central to radical politics. That is, the measure of one’s radicalism is how strongly one supports the Palestinians and the depth of one’s hostility to Israel. (more…)
March 20th, 2007
Posted by Barbara
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About JANIP
JANIP supports a negotiated two-state solution between Israel and Palestine, based on an end to occupation and the right of both peoples to self-determination within recognized, secure borders. As scholars and teachers who are committed to Israel, we seek to inject a voice of realism and moderation into the on-campus debate, which too often has been reduced to a choice between uncompromisingly pro-Israel vs. pro-Palestinian positions.
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