A member of the Chicago Board of Rabbis, Rabbi Capers Funnye [ pron. Foo-Nay'] is spiritual leader of Beth Shalom B'nai Zaken Ethiopian Hebrew Congregation in Chicago. Let's go to the videotape....

The Palestinians' Obligations

Monday, April 6, 2009; A14  Letter to the Washington Post

Your March 31 editorial "Israel's New Government" talked a lot about what the Israelis must do to continue to have support from the United States. What I found lacking was a discussion of what the Palestinians must do to have acceptance by Israel and the United States for a two-state solution. If peace is to come in that troubled region, both the Palestinians and the Israelis have to make concessions and bear responsibilities. Pressure should not be put just on Israel alone, as the editorial attempted to do.

For a two-state solution to become a reality, Palestinians in both the West Bank and the Gaza Strip must recognize the right of Israel to exist as a Jewish state. They must also renounce terrorism and understand that they cannot use terrorism as a negotiating tool to achieve their state. The Palestinians must also agree to abide by all previous agreements signed by their leadership. These are simple things and prerequisites for Palestinians in both Gaza and the West Bank to accept for there to be a peaceful, two-state solution. Since the war in Gaza has ended, Palestinians continue to bombard Israel with missiles threatening Israeli civilians. This must stop if the conflict is going to be resolved.

Peace will come to that region of the world when both sides recognize each other's right to exist in peace and security. It will not come from pressuring Israel to make unilateral concessions in return for worthless promises or worthless pieces of paper.

ELIOT L. ENGEL

U.S. Representative (D-N.Y.)

Washington

The writer is a member of the House Foreign Affairs subcommittee on the Middle East and South Asia.

Most Palestinians appear to hope for something other than a two-state solution.

 

As reported elsewhere on the internet, a Norwegian organization, the Fafo Institute for Applied International Studies conducted an opinion poll in the West Bank and Gaza in late February and early March 2009.  The poll is online at http://www.fafo.no/indexenglish.htm

 

Among the findings:  ( parenthetical comments are mine. -- Mark)

 

35% of respondents [ Total n= 3,232] "hope"  for a Two-state solution. (Advocated by 47% of Fatah respondents; 21% of Hamas respondents.)    (no information available from respondents about whether Israel, as part of a 2-state settlement, would be expected to absorb Palestinian 'refugees' or whether Palestine would permit Jewish residents.)

 

33% hope for the establishment of One Islamic state  (i.e., governed by Islamic law.   Advocated by 58% of Hamas respondents; 17% of Fatah respondents.)

 

20% hope for the establishment of One state with equal rights for all   (In other words, the absorption of Israel into a Greater Palestine and the nullification of Israel as a Jewish state.  Advocated by 22% of Fatah respondents; 12% of Hamas respondents, a majority of whom would prefer a Islamic state. )

 

  3%  hope for a Three-state solution

 

  9%  "Don't know"  what to hope for.  ( A response by 14% of the 35-44 age bracket) 

 

[Table 1.23  Hopes for a future political solution of the conflict with Israel. p. 25]

 

 

 

 

Religion and Poverty: Let All Who Are Hungry Come and Eat,

By Rabbi Steve Gutow, president of the Jewish Council for Public Affairs,

and Dr. H. Eric Schockman, president of MAZON: A Jewish Response to Hunger

A Jewish Call to Protect America’s Hungry

Over the coming months, Spotlight will host a conversation that asks how and whether religious and faith communities should address the issue of poverty in America and explores the relationship between religion and public policy.

As the weather grows warmer and the days grow longer, American Jews are preparing to celebrate Passover. Every spring, we remember our people’s escape from bondage and flight to freedom with songs and stories read from the Haggadah, our traditional guide to the Seder meal. Our primary symbol is a very simple one: matzo, the dry, cracker-like food that we also call “the bread of affliction.”

As we gather, our homes filled with friends and our tables with food, our thoughts on slavery, affliction, and remembrances that we were once “strangers in a strange land,” it is easy to forget that affliction is not a thing of the distant past—that even as we sit down to our holiday meal, many Americans are virtual strangers in their own land, afflicted and enslaved by hunger.

The Seder is not merely a meal, however; it is a tool for education, a call to social action. This year, it comes at a time when many, many American families face times harder than they ever imagined. Today, some 37.5 million Americans live in poverty — a number that includes 13 million children — and the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities estimates that as many as 10 million more of our fellow citizens will have slipped below the poverty line by year’s end. The people who suffer the most in hard times are not those at the top, but those who were already in need when the hard times hit.

The Haggadah wisely guards against the tendency to see religious ritual as a lifeless thing that refers only to the story of the Israelites from the past. We are told that in every generation, we must see ourselves as if we had personally gone out of Egypt. We must take the lessons of bondage and freedom into our daily lives and apply them to the world around us. As we break matzo with those we love, this year of all years, we must certainly remember the millions who do not have enough food on their own tables.

That is why, next week, we will bring together not just Jews, but people of all faiths and backgrounds, lawmakers and activists, students and community leaders, to hold a special Seder in the U.S. Capitol, focused on the issues of hunger and child nutrition. This event will kick off a series of similar Seders to be held across the country, as Jewish groups and interfaith leaders convene not just to celebrate the Jewish people’s historical escape from slavery, but to highlight this country’s obligation to ensure that all of our children escape the affliction of hunger.

As a nation, we are only as strong as our weakest members, and, surely, we cannot move forward if we fail to care for our children. As the ancient Israelites had to take action in order to achieve their own exodus, so it is today: hunger can only be defeated if we all take on the responsibility.

As such, these Seders will call on Americans to educate themselves, to advocate on behalf of the hungry to their legislators, and to organize their loved ones and community to take action. Our hope is that the universal message of the right to freedom from want will echo in the halls of Congress, and that our elected officials will see to it that our next federal budget prioritizes meeting Americans’ most basic human needs.

To effectively grapple with childhood hunger, Congress will have to invest substantially in new funding for child nutrition programs. More communities must have access to school breakfast and summer feeding programs, rules must be shaped that will make it simpler for families to participate, and the nutritional quality of the food provided must be improved. $20 billion, over the next five years, will be a critical investment toward making the improvements that these programs urgently need—but not only will such changes make a real difference in the lives of boys and girls currently living in poverty, they will be a vital step toward meeting President Obama’s stated goal of ending child hunger in this country by 2015.

The good news is that these ideas build on an existing foundation, laid by Congressional advocates in recent years. Increases in the Food Stamp benefit were an important part of the Administration’s stimulus package, and last year’s Farm Bill contained a robust nutrition title, with 73 percent of the bill’s total dedicated to the funding of nutrition programs such as Food Stamps and emergency food assistance, as well as programs designed to bring more fresh fruits and vegetables to schools in low-income areas.

It is simply not enough to leave these issues to the good will of individual people or philanthropies. The simple truth is that hunger, like slavery, is a political condition. It is not a lack of food, but a lack of action and will that perpetuates hunger in the lives of our youngest citizens.

When the Israelites were called to leave behind their suffering, they had to do so in a hurry—and so, not having time to allow their bread to rise, they traveled into the desert with matzo, hard bread that served also to remind them of the hard life they had left behind. Today, we too are in a rush, as every day spent in hunger is one too many. The time to act is not next month or next year, but now.

It is important to remember, however, that Passover is not just a holiday of exodus, but also a time of renewal. As the ragtag crowd of Israelites left Egypt and were formed into the Jewish people, so too can the America people rise to their own challenges, and become a better, stronger nation as a result.

As people of faith, we know that we are called to meet the needs of the most vulnerable. To not do so would be an affront to God and all we hold dear. As Americans, we know that generational poverty — the empty belly of a child — weakens and destabilizes our country as a whole.

“Let all who are hungry come and eat,” we read in the Haggadah, “let all who are in need come share our Passover.”

Let us all — Jews, Christians, Muslims, people of any and all faiths — carry this simple, powerful message with us into the world, and take the actions so urgently needed to free American children from hunger.

Rabbi Steve Gutow is the president of the Jewish Council for Public Affairs. Dr. H. Eric Schockman is the president of MAZON: A Jewish Response to Hunger.

 

Teen killed in West Bank terror attack

Terrorist carrying axe attacks and kills 16-year-old youth in settlement of Bat Ayin in Gush Etzion Thursday noon; seven-year-old child sustains moderate injuries. Terrorist flees scene, IDF launches manhunt. Palestinian Authority security official tells Ynet terrorist apparently working on his own
Efrat Weiss  ynetnews  April 2, 2009

Sixteen-year-old Shlomo Nativ was killed and a seven-year-old boy was moderately injured in an attack carried out by a terrorist carrying an axe in the West Bank settlement of Bat Ayin Thursday noon.

 

According to the police, the terrorist managed to flee the scene. The IDF launched a hunt for the terrorist, set up roadblocks and boosted security throughout the communities in the area.

 

Palestinian sources reported that IDF forces were surrounding a house in the nearby village of Khirbet Safa where they suspected the attacker may be hiding. 

 

A Magen David Adom rescue team tried to resuscitate the teen, who they said ran into a house after being attacked, but he died of his injuries.

Netanyahu: Israel seeks lasting peace with Arabs By Haaretz Service

 

Incoming Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declared on Tuesday that under his leadership, Israel would continue to work toward a comprehensive peace with the Arab and Muslim world.

"We will not let anyone question our right to exist," he told lawmakers gathered at the Knesset in Jerusalem for the swearing-in of the new coalition. "Israel can`t afford to treat statements against it light-heartedly."

In his address, Netanyahu called radical Islam and the Iranian regime major threats to regional security, but praised Islamic culture as "great and rich, with many branches in our people's history which has known periods which flourished for Arabs and Jews who lived together and created together."

He said that blocking the Iranian nuclear program was in the interest of both Israel and the Muslim world, adding that he hoped the region could work together "to block terrorism in every direction and fight it until the end."

"Israel has always, and today more than ever, strives to reach full peace with the entire Arab and Muslim world, and today that yearning is supported by a joint interest of Israel and the Arab states against the fanatical obstacle that threatens us all," he said.

Netanyahu did not explicitly endorse an independent Palestinian state while declaring his commitment to peace, but said: "We do not wish to rule another people. We do not want to rule the Palestinians... Under the permanent status agreement, the Palestinians will have all the authority necessary to rule themselves."

He also warned the Palestinian Authority that it must do its part to fight terror if it is serious about peace.

"I say to the Palestinian leadership that if you really want peace we can achieve peace," Netanyahu told a Knesset session interrupted by heckling from Arab and left-wing lawmakers.

He offered negotiations on "three parallel tracks, economic, security and diplomatic" with the Palestinian Authority.

Netanyahu also pledged to do whatever it takes to free abducted Israel Defense Forces soldier Gilad Shalit, who has been in Palestinian captivity since he was abducted in a 2006 cross-border raid from the Gaza Strip.

The incoming premier promised that his government would "work to bolster national security and achieve personal security for Israel's citizens... maintain the Jewish character of the state and Jewish tradition, and also respect the religions and traditions of the country's ethnic communities."

Netanyahu thanked outgoing Prime Minister Ehud Olmert for his "devoted service" to the state, and promised to engage in peace talks with "sincerity and a clear mind."

Following his address, Netanyahu began to name the 30 new ministers and deputy ministers appointed to serve in the new government coalition, set to be voted in at the end of the ceremony.

Olmert delivered his final speech as premier just before Netanyahu's address, urging the new coalition to follow in his government's path and make the peace process a central focus of the coming term.

"Our avid peace efforts were acknowledged by the international community," he said. In particular, the outgoing prime minister called on Netanyahu to continue on the Syria track, a process which Olmert jumpstarted during his term.


"As I step down from the premiership, I am not the least bit resentful," Olmert said, adding that he was proud of his own government's achievements.

Olmert's tenure as prime minister was heavily criticized throughout, with two wars and a dozen investigations into his alleged corruption.

During his address, the outgoing prime minister defended his government's decision to carry out the 2006 war in Lebanon and the recent operation in the Gaza Strip.

The Israel Defense Forces is "most moral army in the world," Olmert declared, adding that this was evident by Israel's actions during its offensive on the Gaza Strip earlier this year.

He also defended the government's decision to carry out the 2006 Second Lebanon War against Hezbollah militants, despite widespread criticism of the state's handling of that war.

"The outcomes of Second Lebanon War, in long run, are positive," Olmert said, adding that the war "changed strategic balance along the border in our favor."

Opposition leader Tzipi Livni, who lost out on the opportunity to form the new government despite her Kadima party's slim win in the February elections, took the podium to deliver the third address at the government swearing in.

She began her speech by wishing the new government success, but quickly added that could not wish success to a coalition deal that would "not benefit the state at all."

She then vowed that under her leadership, the opposition would act responsibly to bring the public's faith back to the Knesset.

Mar. 26, 2009  Editorial  , THE JERUSALEM POST

[ Islamic extremists make clear their goals.  Why not believe them?]

If you follow the trail of arms from Iran - through Somalia, Sudan and Egypt to the Gaza Strip - you come to a fork in the road. One direction leads to the conclusion that Teheran's smuggling of weapons to Hamas for its fight against Israel is but a facet of the greater Islamist confrontation with Western civilization; the other to the determination that there is no war of civilizations, and that Iran and Hamas are ripe for inclusion in the international community.

YESTERDAY, CBS News reported that in January, Israeli aircraft bombed an Iranian arms convoy in Sudan bound for Hamas during Operation Cast Lead. The attack took place northwest of Port Sudan. All the casualties were Sudanese, Eritreans and Ethiopians and all the trucks were destroyed. They were presumably thought to be carrying rockets that would extend Hamas's range to Tel Aviv, making the mission worth the risk.

• The arms start off in Iran, which sees itself at war with Israel on every continent, using all available means and proxies. Teheran orchestrated the bombing of the Israeli embassy in Argentina in 1992, and the Buenos Aires Jewish Community Center in 1994. Iranian instructors taught Hizbullah the art of truck-bombing, which claimed hundreds of Israeli lives in Lebanon.

The mullahs began courting Hamas in 1990, once they had determined that destroying Israel trumped any theological differences with the Sunni jihadists.

Today, Iran is heavily invested in Hamas - financially, diplomatically, militarily and politically.

• The weapons move to Somalia, a failed state and humanitarian basket case controlled by warlords who seek to surmount clan differences with radical Islam. Youthful Shabab extremists are their shock troops. The goal is a world caliphate, but for now they'd settle for Wahhabi control of Somalia. A moderate Islamist president sitting in Mogadishu is too weak to exert power; Muslim pirates rule the coastal waters.

• The next port of call: Sudan. Once Osama bin Laden's headquarters, Sudan is notorious for its genocide against non-Arabs in Darfur. The country has close ties with Iran, whose Revolutionary Guards are training its reconstituted army.

On March 4, the International Criminal Court in The Hague issued a warrant for the arrest of Sudanese leader Omar Hassan al-Bashir. Since then al-Bashir has been to Cairo - twice - to strategize with President Hosni Mubarak. And he means to attend next week's Arab League Summit in Qatar. Beyond the backing he has in the Organization of the Islamic Conference and the African Union, Bashir's support is being spearheaded by Iran, Hamas, Hizbullah, Syria and Islamic Jihad. Iran's parliament speaker, Ali Larijani, called the arrest warrant an "insult directed at Muslims."

• Next port of call - Egypt. Every bullet shipped to Gaza by Iran traverses Egypt, either overland or via the Port of Damietta in a journey coordinated by Hamas in Damascus and Iran's Revolutionary Guard. By the time the shipments arrive at the smugglers' tunnels connecting the Sinai to Gaza, innumerable hands have facilitated them, and innumerable eyes looked the other way.

AMERICAN policy wonks who argue that Iran and Hamas are ripe for inclusion in the international community see taking that direction as "pragmatic." They've unearthed Hamas's "moderate" wing - and it's "open to compromise."

Not, granted, on the core issues of terrorism, honoring previous Palestinian commitments and Israel's right to exist. But Hamas would agree to a lengthy cease-fire. And it might allow Mahmoud Abbas to front for them. Further, say the wonks, with Hamas standing over his shoulder - who knows, Abbas might negotiate a peace deal! It would be brought to a Palestinian referendum, and Hamas would abide by the results.

But none of this will happen, the wonks warn, if the West remains hung up on what Hamas says it will do to Israel.

Similarly, when the US sits down Tuesday at The Hague, with Iran, to discuss Afghanistan, the wonks will likely argue that Teheran's attendance signals its underlying pragmatism - and that this pragmatism could be torpedoed by obsessing over Iranian threats to destroy Israel.

If the new Obama administration takes the easy road counseled by these wonks, willfully ignoring the implacable nature of Islamist extremism, it will have embarked on a journey of disastrous self-delusion.

This article can also be read at http://www.jpost.com /servlet/Satellite?cid=1237727552931&pagename=JPArticle%2FShowFull
[ Back to the Article ]