Al Jazeera put out an excellent report during Israel’s war on Gaza titled “Reflections of War.” There are four parts. I highly recommend watching it.

Reflections of War – Part 1

Reflections of War – Part 2

Reflections of War – Part 3

Reflections of War – Part 4
I also recommend a book written by Anna Baltzer titled “Witness in Palestine: A Jewish American woman in the Occupied Territories.”

President Obama,

Please tell Senator Mitchell for me that he’s out of his mind if he thinks the Palestinian side is the one to blame for stalling the peace process. Israel continues, like she always has during every peace talk, to build settlements. Settlement freeze – what settlement freeze? You and Senator Mitchell are being disingenuous if you claim that the Israeli side is doing their part.

Let me ask you something. What would you say to someone who expects you to negotiate with a thief while the thief is stealing your property?

I know you have a lot of smart people giving you advice but they’re still wrong in their thinking regarding the steps the peace process should taking. There is this big push for peace negotiations right now which in my way of thinking is ass-backwards (please excuse my language).

The creation of a Palestinian state can be broken up into three steps. Despite what some people may be telling you, the first step is not peace negotiations. The first step in this whole process can only be the ending of the occupation. Some people must think the Palestinian people are ignorant, stupid and backward. How else can you explain the expectation that an occupied party must to enter into peace negotiations which a brutal occupier.

If the Israeli’s were serious about peace with the Palestinians then the only logical step for them would be to end the occupation. After all the occupation ultimately has to end for an independent State of Palestine to become a reality. Only when the occupation has ended can the next steps of peace negations and building a state begin. I’m not some highly educated Ivy Leaguer but I can say without hesitation that any other way of thinking is simply delusional. The status quo cannot continue. To quote a very famous Jew, Albert Einstein; “Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results..”

You can look at one specific historical event that gives credence to what I said. Back in 1947, Gandhi’s primary concern and struggle was not peace-making with the British. He knew that the first step in creating an independent Indian state was to free the Indian people from British occupation. The same is true for Palestine. Peace negotiations cannot begin in earnest until the occupation has ended. The bottom-line is you cannot expect one party to negotiate a peace settlement while the playing field is not level. It’s too bad that some people today seem to be unable to learn from the past.

I am planning a short visit to Palestine in May. I would be happy to report back to you about the settlement freeze, Israel’s suppression of nonviolent protests by Palestinians and their supporters, or anything else you would like to know about. I’ll even get you pictures of riot gear-clad Israeli police using teargas, batons, and water cannons. Maybe I’ll even be able to get a picture or two of protestors being shot with rubber bullets.

Please do everyone a favor and spare us the old worn out rhetoric about the Palestinian side needing to do more. The onus is on Israel to do more. A lot more. As long as the international community lets Israel get away with it she will continue to procrastinate, effectively prolonging negotiations indefinitely. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out that delays are in Israel’s best interest. If you think it will be hard to vacate the illegal settlements now, what do you think it will be like in 10 years? Kinda makes you wonder if this wasn’t Israel’s plan from day one in 1948 to slowly create facts on the ground until it’s too late to do anything about. It’s like putting a live lobster in a pot of water and slowly turning up the heat. Before the poor creature knows it it’s cooked.

Respectfully,
Steven Beikirch

I came across this photo of artwork that was done on the separation wall in Bethlehem.  With his gun broken this Israeli soldier must submit to being searched.

Steve Beikirch

DYR Scholarship

Hajo Meyer

I just posted a recent press release  from the Scottish Palestine Solidarity Campaign entitled “Auschwitz survivor slams Scottish prosecutors for ‘taking sides with Israel’ ” on RighteousJews.org, the sister site to the Deir Yassin Remembered site. The survivor in question is Hajo Meyer, who just had his article, “An Ethical Tradition Betrayed,” published in the Huffington Post.

Abuna Chacour and JWPF

Abuna Elias Chacour spoke this week at the First Presbyterian Church in Ann Arbor and delivered his message of steadfastness and love. Abuna is noted for founding the Mar Elias Educational Institutions and was hosted by Pilgrims of Ibillin. This writer reminded him of his visit to Ann Arbor four years ago, and that he refused an audience member’s request that he denounce our peaceful vigils. This time around he was given a copy of Religious Leaders Support Jewish Witnesses for Peace and Friends, and asked to consider signing onto the document. Quoting from this document:

We pray that Christians and Jews will abandon their adherence to the false teachings of Zionism. We pray for an end to the idolatry of political power and military might and uphold Jewish Witnesses for Peace and Friends as an example for people in other communities. We pray and work for the peace and safety of Jewish Witnesses for Peace and Friends, the people of the Middle East, and all humanity – God’s children everywhere. Finally, we join in the call of the prophet Amos: “Let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.”

Out of Sheer Honesty …

Dialogue can have its place when the individuals involved operate from a power balance that is equal (see When Dialogue is Not Our Hope for clarification). In a conversation this week, good friend Mr. R postulated that I shouldn’t be so critical of activists like JVP-representative Barbara Harvey who are committed to ending the Occupation of the West Bank, East Jerusalem (her promo) without identifying Zionism as the illness, and the occupation as a mere symptom. Maybe she’s just working on part of the problem, Mr. R suggested.

His suggestion reminded this writer of “Rabbit Seasoning,” a Warner Bothers cartoon where Daffy Duck – outraged that Bugs Bunny has disguised himself to outwit the bumbling Elmer Fudd screams, “Out of sheer honesty, I demand that you tell him who you really are. Well? Haven’t you anything to say? Anything? Out of sheer honesty??”

Why can’t Ms. Harvey (and readers can substitute any JVP or Brit Tzedek member of their liking) merely identify her position by one of the following two statements:

I fully support a Jewish supremacist state in 78% of Palestine. In order to safeguard that state, I focus only on the 22% where there is an obvious illegal presence and a Palestinian majority.

-or-

I cannot support Israel’s claimed right to exist as a Jewish state in Palestine, and will work to peacefully dismantle the Apartheid structure. And towards that goal I will focus, as a first step, on removing Israel’s military occupation of the illegally occupied territories.

Then, we would know where our leaders stand, and what goals they are trying to pursue. Out of sheer honesty.

Free Speech and our Street Signs – Update

It’s been over a month since we last reported any progress on asserting our First Amendment rights on Washtenaw Avenue. We now report that the City Attorney’s office is in receipt of a letter from JWPF’s Legal Department stating in part:

If the City makes allowance for the placement of unattended commercial signs in the public right-of-way for up to six hours per week then [we] cannot see any basis to assert that prohibiting the placement of attended political signs in the public right-of-way for less than an hour-and-a-half per week falls under the rubric of “reasonable ‘time, place, and manner restrictions’ upon speech that are content neutral, that serve a significant governmental interest.”

The City Attorney’s office said they would respond this week. We remind them and our readers that: “The loss of First Amendment freedoms, for even minimal periods of time, unquestionably constitutes irreparable injury” Elrod v. Burns, 427 U.S. 373 (1976).

Seven Vigillers
Support Resistance to Genocide
Henry Herskovitz
Jewish Witnesses for Peace and Friends
https://blog.deiryassin.org/
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Ten, the Hard Way

JWPF’s Head Statistician reports that last Saturday was the first time we placed ten vigilers on Washtenaw Avenue since June of 2008, but we did! And for the story behind the headline: Ms. D is the wife of the owner of a local motorcycle shop; this fall she was raising funds for Toys for Tots by raffling off tickets to win her hand-made, motorcycle-themed, quilt. When I explained that I, as a peace activist, could not donate to a cause that promotes the Marine Corps, she pleaded that the proceeds would benefit children. Would Ms. D be willing to stand vigil with Jewish Witnesses for Peace and Friends in exchange for the sale of one raffle ticket? Sure, why not? was her response, especially after reading the yellow journalism hit piece on our group by Art Aisner.

Sure enough, Ms. D showed up Saturday, and pushed our numbers back into double digits. A woman of her word, we at JWPF send our appreciation her way!

Potential at ICPJ?

A six-member panel spoke at last week’s ICPJ event to review Barack Obama’s first year in office. Ron Gregg, representing Common Ground, the replacement group for the deposed Middle East Task Force, toed the Zionist line as he spoke of last year’s war in Gaza, and the requirement for Israel’s security being front and center of any peace negotiations.

Mr. Gregg was gently reminded that, to consider his movement at all progressive, a little thinking outside the envelope was necessary: for instance the war in Gaza was in essence a slaughter, a massacre, and not at all a war; he was reminded that infants were attacked by white phosphorus bombs. And he could not return an answer when asked whether a thief who attacked his home and killed his family members was deserving of any claim to security.

He was also reminded by an audience member that not only was there no Arab/Muslim presence at the meeting, but that the ICPJ in their successful efforts at removing the METF for our audacity at promoting Palestinian calls for BDS drove the only Palestinian Arab/Muslim member on their Board of Directors away. That member stands with JWPF on Saturday mornings.

New Feature of our Reports

Readers have always been able to communicate with this writer about the contents of our reports, but some chafe under the recognition that their comments are not seen by the readership at large.

Thanks to a new policy at Deir Yassin Remembered, which allows Board of Advisor members the ability to post items to a new blog, our Vigil Reports will be now posted at https://blog.deiryassin.org/ and readers may place comments, subject only to rules of decent communication, which will be visible to all. The last two reports have been posted, and weekly reports such as this will post shortly after readers receive them. We look forward to your use of this new feature.

Boycott Israel
Henry Herskovitz
Jewish Witnesses for Peace and Friends
https://blog.deiryassin.org/
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The Jewish massacre of Palestinians at Deir Yassin in 1948, along with several other similar massacres, gets a mention in Paul de Rooij’s recent CounterPunch review of Joe Sacco’s new book, Footnotes in Gaza: A Graphic Novel.