If you have something to say...
Say it on the Huffington Post
If you have something to say...
Say it on the Huffington Post
The Arab-Israeli conflict is generally viewed as a political and territorial conflict, yet the underlying religious component has created a certain mindset that further complicates the struggle and adds to its intransigence.
Notwithstanding their traumatic historical experiences, neither the Israelis nor the Palestinians can or should use history to foreshadow the present requirements to make peace.
If the agreed timetable for Palestinian reconciliation is adhered to, we are promised to witness the reemergence of the Palestine Liberation Organization as the embodiment of the aspirations of Palestinians.
When it comes to the topic of Israel, some hawkish members of the secular Jewish community appear to follow in the antediluvian footsteps of the shtetl. That anyone in our broader Jewish community is shunned for holding a nonviolent opinion is a travesty.
The most puzzling aspect of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is that after 65 years of mutual violence, enmity and suffering, it remains unresolved even when coexistence is inevitable and a two-state solution remains the only viable option.
In a recent visit to the restroom in Blue State Coffee on the Yale University campus, I was surprised to find the wall had become contested territory for a debate about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. As a Ph.D. student spending much of his time reading the Talmud, this exchange felt oddly familiar.
After missiles stopped soaring between the Gaza Strip and Israel, a group from Emory University ventured over to the Middle East on a mission to build educational, inter-religious and cultural relationships. How Israelis and Palestinians share land -- and ultimately learn to live in peace -- was the prevailing issue.
It is clear that however well-meaning the sponsors and researchers of the textbook study may have been, the lack of sufficient historical, social and geopolitical context distort the findings and render this study distorted and counterproductive.
To say that anti-Zionism is antisemitism is too simplistic, just as it is a canard to say that Zionism is racism or that Israel is an apartheid state. Scholars have something important to contribute to this debate: to facilitate a more rounded discussion of the new Judeophobia.
Why is it that, despite our diverse politics and passions, so many American Jews continue to feel a special tie to Israel? I believe there are four primary reasons for our continuing sense that our own identities are inextricably linked to Israel and its ability to thrive.
Finding a solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, which has gone on for more than sixty years, should now be a top priority for President Obama as it is central to Arab-Israeli peace and will dramatically enhance regional stability.
But who's academic freedom? Do "departments" -- as distinguished from individual faculty members -- really have the right of academic freedom? Does the political science department at Brooklyn College represent only its hard left faculty?
Having spent the last two weeks in Israel and Palestine, it's undeniable that the United States is turning a blind eye to one of the most pressing human rights situations in the world.
The political atmosphere surrounding Iran's nuclear developments has become palpably more alarmist over the last year, influencing foreign policy pundits to increasingly view diplomatic negotiations as a check-the-box exercise on the purportedly inevitable road to war.
The head administrator of NASA made a surprise landing on Jan. 28 in an unusual place to promote the farfetched idea of bringing the Jewish and Arab communities of Israel together -- through research into outer space.
The similarities between the leverage of the American tea party movement on the Republican party and the growing influence of the religious nationalist ideologues in Israel is striking.
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