Activists and mothers A delegation of 15 Gush Shalom activists visited today (18.8.04) the families of Palestinianprisoners, who are conducting an open-ended hunger strike. The families are striking at theEast Jerusalem Red Cross offices. The delegation carried posters in Hebrew, Arabic and English, demanding “Decent Treatmentof Prisoners of War”. Gush activist Hava Keller, “mother of … Read more
Once upon a time, an assistant to Levy Eshkol, our late Prime Minister, rushed up to him andcried: “Levy, a disaster! A drought has set in!” “Where?” the Prime Minister asked anxiously, “in Texas ?” “No, here in Israel !” the man replied. “Then there’s nothing to worry about,” Eshkol said dismissively. Right from the … Read more
Ariel Sharon ’s “disengagement” plan has already made a mess on all levels. It has sparked a continuing cabinet crisis, an upheaval in several parties, adisorientation of public opinion, confusion in the security establishment and armedconfrontations between Palestinian organizations. The Israeli peace movement is mixed up like everybody else. Some support Sharon becauseof the plan … Read more
Or: How the Virgin became a Whore This is a TV series about Russia . But it could have been about Israel . Or about the UnitedStates . It is entitled “The Oligarchs” and is now being screened on Israeli television. Some of its episodes are simply unbelievable – or would have been, if they … Read more
I am writing this with an aching heart. I have postponed writing it as long as I could. In Jewish tradition, there is a searing phrase: “The Temple was not destroyed but forgratuitous hatred.” It sums up the events in beleaguered Jerusalem , in the year 70 AD, when thetown was surrounded by the Roman … Read more
“In a dramatic television broadcast, the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, calledupon the million Russian emigrants in Israel to return at once to their homeland, in view of thegrowing danger to their security there.” That did not happen, of course. But it is easy to imagine what would have been the reactionin Israel if Putin had … Read more
Sometimes a trivial episode throws a revealing light on a grave public disease. A classic example: the Captain of Koepenick. On the face of it, it was a minor criminalincident: in 1906, a shoemaker named Wilhelm Voigt was released from prison, after serving asentence for forgery. To get work he needed a passport, which, as … Read more
One of the Israeli newspapers, Haaretz , put the two events on the front page: the 100 thanniversary of the death of Theodor Herzl , the founder of the modern Zionist movement, and thejudgement of the International Court of Justice, which declared the Israeli Separation Wallillegal. This coincidence may seem fortuitous. What connection could there … Read more
In the silence of the courtroom, there was an audible gasp of surprise and shock whenSupreme Justice Aharon Barak, reading the court’s decision, reached the words: “Themilitary commander did not use his discretion in a proportional way, as required.” At that moment the veteran peace activists who filled the room realized that they had won. … Read more
photo gallery A non-violent demonstration in A-Ram today (26.6.04) turned into a battlefield, when theBorder Police used, for two hours, tear gas, rubber-coated bullets and water cannon againstit. All signs indicate that it was a well-prepared police ambush. The Israeli demonstrators, mostly activists of Gush Shalom and Ta’ayush, arrived in fivefull buses at A-Ram roadblock. … Read more