| |  | | | August 21, 2005 | 
|  Israel Evacuates 85 Percent of Gaza's Settlers by Goran Tomasevic
Israeli forces have evacuated more than 85 percent of Gaza's Jewish settlers after nearly 40 years of occupation and all should be out by Monday, police said on Saturday. Following three days of forced evacuations, during which settlers were carried weeping from their homes and protesters pulled screaming from synagogues by unarmed soldiers, only four of the 21 settlements in the Gaza Strip remain. Security forces hope to clear three remaining settlements in Gaza on Sunday and outlying Netzarim on Monday, before turning attention to two West Bank settlements that are also due to be evacuated. (Reuters) Read More. | |  Israeli General: "The Whole Army Hurts" by Gavin Rabinowitz
On Thursday, Maj. Gen. Iftah Ron-Tal, the commander of Israel's land forces, visited his son Omri, daughter-in law, and grandson in Shirat Hayam, a seaside outpost in Gaza. Ron-Tal kissed six-month-old Nir-Chaim, and asked Omri to leave with his family. "He promised me to leave without using any force and I appreciate it," Ron-Tal said. The withdrawal has been an emotional experience for many Israelis. "The whole army hurts," Ron-Tal said. (AP) Read More. | |  Rice Urges Israel and Palestinians to Sustain Momentum by Joel Brinkley and Steven R. Weisman
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice offered sympathy for the Israeli settlers who are being removed from their homes in Gaza but also made it clear that she expected Israel and the Palestinians to take further steps in short order toward the creation of a Palestinian state. "Everyone empathizes with what the Israelis are facing," Rice said in an interview, but added, "It cannot be Gaza only." She insisted that Israel must take further steps, including loosening travel restrictions in the West Bank and withdrawing from more Palestinian cities. At the same, she added, the PA must take its own steps, moving quickly to disarm Palestinian factions intent on breaking the cease-fire. (New York Times) Read More. | |  Hamas Threatens More Attacks after Gaza Pullout by Nidal al-Mughrabi
Palestinian Islamic militant group Hamas said on Saturday it would fight to drive Israel out of the West Bank and Jerusalem after the Jewish state completes its withdrawal from the occupied Gaza Strip this year. "As for Jerusalem and the West Bank, we will seek to liberate them by resistance just as the Gaza Strip was liberated," said the masked spokesman for Hamas in Gaza City, surrounded by gunmen and militants with rocket launchers. (Reuters) Read More. |
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|  The Dispossessed by Elie Wiesel
The images of the evacuation itself are heart-rending. Let's not forget: these men and women lived in Gaza for 38 years. Successive governments, from the left and the right, encouraged them to settle there. And here they are, obliged to uproot themselves, to take their holy and precious belongings, their memories and their prayers, their dreams and their dead, to go off in search of a bed to sleep in, a table to eat on, a new home, a future among strangers. In my opinion, what is missing from the chapter now closing is a collective gesture that ought to be made, but that hasn't been made, by the Palestinians. (New York Times) Read More. | |  Sharon's Magnanimity by R. Emmett Tyrrell, Jr.
What we are seeing this week in the withdrawal from Gaza of 8,000 Israeli citizens is as noble an act on behalf of peace as has been recorded in modern history. No peace demonstration on record has involved so much personal sacrifice. There is plenty of evidence that firebrands from Hamas, among others, will be emboldened by Sharon's generosity to see his withdrawal as a sign of weakness, or worse, a sign that Hamas's terrorist violence has caused an Israeli defeat and could cause still more Israeli defeats. Thus Sharon's noble gesture could encourage more violence and legitimatize in the eyes of Palestinian voters the most militant of Israel's enemies. (American Spectator) Read More. | |  Now It's Up to the Palestinians by Yossi Klein Halevi
Even as Israel's anguished self-confrontation unfolds in Gaza with the army's dismantling of two dozen thriving towns and agricultural villages, Palestinian leaders are demanding more. This withdrawal is only the beginning, they promise their celebrating followers. Today Gaza, tomorrow the West Bank and Jerusalem. Yet whether Israel ultimately cedes all that the Palestinians say they want will depend on the Palestinians themselves. A wary Israeli public needs to be convinced that the Palestinians want to build their own state more than they want to destroy the Jewish state. (Los Angeles Times) Read More. | |  Excavations and Extrications by Martin Peretz
Almost no one seems to think that the disengagement is a prelude to peace. The competition between the so-called moderates in the Palestinian Authority and the extremists in Hamas and Islamic Jihad is over the loyalties of the mainstream of, sad to say, extremists. That is why Mahmoud Abbas, chairman of the Palestinian Authority, declared, "Today we are celebrating the liberation of Gaza and the northern West Bank; tomorrow we will be celebrating the liberation of Jerusalem." There was little difference between these words and those of his more ferocious competitors for the allegiance of the street. Will the firing follow the Israelis into the Negev desert after they have left Gaza? I foresee nothing less. (The New Republic) Read More. |
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|  UC - Irvine: Talks on Bias Charge Break Down by Marc Ballon
Mediation has broken down between UC Irvine and a Jewish group that accused the university of tolerating campus anti-Semitism. After just two meetings, the Zionist Organization of America called off summer talks with university officials, ending negotiations to settle the first-ever federal civil rights complaint filed against a university on the basis of alleged anti-Semitism. Susan Tuchman, director of ZOA's Center for Law and Justice, said she could not comment specifically on the June mediation talks because of a confidentiality agreement. But UC Irvine remained a "hostile environment," she said, for many of the university's 1,000 Jewish students. (Jewish Journal of Los Angeles) Read More. | |  North Dakota: Student Editor en Route to Gaza Strip The editor of the Dakota Student, UND's campus newspaper, is one of a dozen college editors chosen for a trip to Europe and Israel sponsored by the Anti-Defamation League. John Edison was chosen from dozens of applicants. Other student newspaper editors from schools including Amherst College, Montana State University, Oregon State and Utah State. (Grand Forks Herald) Read More. | |   Rutgers: Student's Journey to Israel a Study in Diversity by Michelle Gladden
Rachel Shevick, a Rutgers sophomore, spent the first year of her college life taking religious and secular courses, hiking and biking throughout Israel and volunteering in the local schools and communities. In August 2004, Shevick set off to live and work with Jewish students from around the world. Under the guidance of the MASA Project, Shevick spent her first semester living in an apartment at an absorption center in Tiberias. "It was an amazing experience, living with such a diverse group of people," she said. (Asbury Park Press) Read More. | |  Swarthmore: College Presidents Visit Israel by Bryan Schwartzman
Officials at the Jewish Council for Public Affairs and United Jewish Communities believe they may have the solution for promoting a better image of Israel to those in charge of colleges like Swarthmore. The two organizations sent eight college administrators from small to mid-sized colleges to the Jewish state last month as part of a mission. Robert Gross, dean at Swarthmore, took part in the trip, as did Peyton Helm, president of Muhlenberg University in Allentown. The six other administrators represented Old Dominion University (VA), Manchester Community College (CT), Bellarmine University (KY), Wheelock College (MA), and Ocean County College and Kean University (NJ). "What we tend to read in the newspaper is that this is a political conflict," said Gross. "But it has become an existential conflict about Israel's right to exist as a Jewish and democratic state." (Jewish Exponent) Read More. | |   William & Mary: Studying Terrorism: Students on Front Lines of Global Threat by Suzanne Seurattan
Juniors Amanda Downing (left) and Arielle Kuiper travelled to Israel recently to learn about the global threat of terrorism. The pair are participating in a yearlong undergraduate fellowship program sponsored by the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies. While in Israel, the students were based at Tel Aviv University, where they heard presentations from military, intelligence and political officials, as well as academic experts in the field of terrorism. Participants attended lectures featuring ambassadors from India, Jordan, Turkey and the United States. (William and Mary) Read More. |
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|  Georgia: Both Sides at Fault in the Mideast by Josh Weiss
The problem with the region is that both sides are guilty of listening to their hard-line nationalists who would rather see the other side dead than share the land. Thousands of Israelis and Palestinians have died as a result of the ongoing conflict in the area, yet little substantial progress has been made in the past 50 years. I applaud Israel's new efforts to create peace, and hope the Palestinians genuinely see this as an attempt to settle the ongoing conflict. (Red and Black) Read More. | |  Rutgers: An Unbelievable Experience by Ben-Zion Jaffe
CNN, CBS and liberal media giants are only partly to blame. The real criminals in failing to send out Israel's message properly to the world are in Israel itself. The failures of Israel advocacy lie in the bureaucratic mess in the Foreign Ministry and the IDF. Although they do have hasbara programs in which American and other university students learn methods of Israel advocacy, there is no reason in a country filled with American, English and South African Jews there cannot be a good and convincing ambassador for Israel on TV everytime there is a debate, or attack. If the Arab side can do it, why can't we? (Jerusalem Post) Read More. |
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|  Sophie Milman: Musicality and Confidence Are Singer's Trademarks by Sigalit Gal
No matter what the hour is, chances are good that when you tune into Jazz radio stations, you'll hear a vocalist with a deep, sensual voice singing pop standards such as The Man I Love, Lonely in New York and My Heart Belongs to Daddy. That's only one sign that 22-year-old Israeli expatriate singer and current Torontonian Sophie Milman has made it in the jazz world. This Jewish diva was born in the Ural Mountains in the heart of Russia. When the Berlin Wall fell, the family immigrated to Israel. (Canadian Jewish News) Read More. |
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|  Arizona State: Trip to Israel about Science, Culture by Linda Ebbing
Diana Eheart plans to become a scientist someday. This summer, she got a taste of what that would be like after spending a month at the Weizmann Institute of Science in Israel. "It's a great learning experience," the 19-year-old said. "It was a lot of fun and you meet a lot of interesting people from all over the world." Eheart also plans to become a doctor. She will begin classes at Arizona State University on next week. (Journal News) Read More. |
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|  North Iowa: Keeping the Faith, Israeli Finds a Temporary Home by Mary Pieper
The first thing Ido Barzilay put on the door of his dorm room when he arrived at North Iowa Area Community College last year was a Mezuzah - a Hebrew scroll that Jews traditionally place on their doorposts. That's just one thing Barzilay, a native of Israel, does to observe his faith. I try to do what I can," he said. Barzilay, 23, who is currently taking summer classes at NIACC and plans to graduate in May, is from Ramat Gan, a city near Tel Aviv. He came to NIACC on a soccer scholarship and is majoring in physical education. (Mason City Globe Gazette) Read More. | |  Maryland: Shay Doron: Two Countries to Serve and a Champion in Both by Harvey Araton
Last month at the 17th Maccabiah Games Shay Doron played for the United States women's basketball team instead of her native Israel and was the most valuable player as the Americans whipped the Israelis for the gold medal. "Shay was our personal tour guide [in Israel], the one we looked to for advice on everything," said Lisa Fischman, a 6-foot-2 senior center. Doron said she considered it her honor, practically her national duty. "I've lived in America for 13 years and I consider it my home," she said, "but I'm also Israeli and I love my country, and all I wanted was for my teammates to love it, too." (New York Times) Read More.
See also Postcards From Maryland Guard Shay Doron by Shay Doron (UMTerps) |
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What Will the Disengagement Accomplish?
| Doubts, Hopes, and Troubling Thoughts by Yossi Alpher
Whatever else happens after disengagement, an Israeli-Palestinian peace process is not likely. Indeed, the period confronting us is one of great uncertainty, in which both the positive predictions of peace and the negative prognoses regarding large-scale violence have to be treated very skeptically. One reason for the uncertainty that is shared by both sides is politics. Israel and Palestine are heading for national elections. These will be the focus of public attention for the next six months, with another two or three months required to digest the results, form governments, and plan policies. There are plenty of additional variables to take into account: We don't know whether Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas (Abu Mazen) will succeed in maintaining PA/PLO rule in Gaza, or whether there will be chaos or rule by Hamas. We don't know whether Palestinians will continue firing Qasam rockets and mortar rounds from Gaza. On the Israeli side, we don't know whether PM Ariel Sharon will succeed in remaining at the head of the Likud, much less whether he will be the next prime minister. We do know that disengagement is good for Israel and Palestine. It ends part of Israel's occupation of another people and serves its vital demographic needs, while it transfers land and a degree of sovereignty to the Palestinians. (Bitterlemons) Read More. | | A Pack of Untruths by Moshe Arens
The unilateral disengagement is going to be bad for Israel because it encourages terror. The Palestinians don't hide their jubilation and conviction that this is a direct result of their use of terror. This will encourage further terror. We were successful in the battle against terrorism until this idea came along. It's not part of any treaty obligation. Even [PM Mahmoud] Abbas declares from Gaza that Jerusalem is next. The disengagement is a blatant violation of the rights of Israeli citizens. It could not happen in any other democratic country. [Presidents] Bush and Chirac praise [PM] Sharon, yet know that in their countries you couldn't pull 8,000 people out of their homes. The worst outcome is the rift within Israeli society, which was foreseeable and which will take a long time to heal. The settlers and their supporters are not an insignificant minority and by any reckoning they're a high quality part of society. The IDF has always been a symbol of unity, but now it's using soldiers in compulsory military service to confront other Israeli citizens. The arguments for disengagement are a pack of untruths, if not outright lies. This is not disengagement but rather a unilateral withdrawal. Israel will never be able to totally disengage from Palestinians. The day after disengagement the demographics of the state of Israel won't change by a single percentile. We're not really ending occupation in Gaza. We ended that 11 years ago. (Bitterlemons) Read More. |
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