Common Ground News Service
June 18, 2009
What does it mean to be pro-Israel in the Obama era?
By Jan Jaben-Eilon
Did US President Barack Obama’s speech in Cairo sharpen the differences in how American Jews espouse their support for Israel, or has it moderated the divergent opinions, bringing the wider pro-Israel Jewish community closer together? [Read More]

Religious Dispatches
June 17, 2009
Time for Jews to Abandon the Old Foundation Myth of Israel?
By Ira Chernus
Pundit Stanley Greenberg got it right when he said that in politics “a narrative is the key to everything.” But some issues, like the Israel-Palestine conflict, seem to resist change as they form a thicket of many narratives, tangled up so badly that progress toward a solution seems all but impossible. [Read More]

Will Obama Save the Mideast from Itself?
June 12, 2009
Daily Kos
By David A Love
With his speech at Cairo University, President Obama has laid the groundwork, potentially, for a new era of peace in the Mideast. Israeli officials are now realizing that they will have to accept a two-state solution for Israel and the Palestinians. [Read More]

The Jewish Week
June 10, 2009
Letter to the Editor: Squeezing Israel
By Gil Kulick
Regarding "Washington Now ‘An Obstacle to Peace’ " (Editor’s column, June 5), the road map signed by the Israeli government and the Palestinian Authority in April 2003 states categorically: "GOI (Government of Israel) freezes all settlement activity (including natural growth of settlements)." [Read More]

Truthout.org
June 9, 2009
AIPAC Wall Beginning to Crack
By Ira Chernus
For years, AIPAC (The American Israel Public Affairs Committee) has helped to stonewall the Middle East peace process by building a solid wall around the Israeli government, protecting it from criticism in the US. Senators and representatives have feared the wrath of AIPAC come Election Day, even in states and districts where the Jewish vote is negligible. [Read More]

Daily Camera
June 7, 2009
A more nuanced view of Israel
By Ira Chernus
Now the Jewish secret is coming out of the closet. The diversity of Jewish views on Israel is growing by leaps and bounds. In the Boulder area, as across the country, Jews are beginning to debate openly about the best way to keep Israel secure and keep American Jewry's moral soul intact. [Read More]

The New York Times
June 6, 2009
Letter to the Editor: Listening to Obama’s Message in Cairo
By James Adler, Boston Chapter
The world’s eyes and ears on Cairo underscores how President Obama has given us the gift of a new and unique opportunity — one that only a year ago seemed like a fantasy — to reorient America as a peaceful citizen of the planet we seem to have rejoined at last. [Read More]

The Mideast Peace Pulse Blog @IPF
June 5, 2009
Appreciating President Obama’s Courage
By Rabbi Joshua Levine Grater
If there is one thing that can be said for President Obama, it is that he doesn't shy away from speaking hard truths. As I listened to the speech in Cairo, as I reread the transcript and as I studied the numerous commentaries and analysis of the speech, I was reminded of the timeless adage: sometimes, the truth hurts. [Read More]

Capitol J, JTA
June 4, 2009
Rounding up opinions on Obama in Cairo
By Eric Fingerhut
Reaction has been pouring in all day from Jewish groups to President Obama's Cairo speech. To sum up in a few sentences: Left-wing Jewish groups applauded the speech as a whole, while more centrist groups or those that tilt more to the right has both praise and some criticism. [Read More]

Capitol J, JTA
June 4, 2009
Brit Tzedek: We stand with the president
By Eric Fingerhut
Brit Tzedek v'Shalom said the president made a "persuasive case for the common interest in resolving" the Israeli-Palestinian conflict on Thursday, and said it stands with the president. [Read More]

Foreign Policy
June 3, 2009
Is the Israel Lobby getting weaker?
By Stephen M. Walt
Several people have recently asked me if the Obama administration's tough line towards Israel's settlements and its insistence on a two-state solution invalidates the arguments that John Mearsheimer and I made about the political influence of the "Israel lobby." [Read More]

Free Speech Radio News
May 28, 2009
Obama and Abbas to meet as Israel insists on expanding settlements
After a funding swing on the West Coast, President Obama returns to Washington, where he will meet with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas at the White House. The meeting is an effort to move along a stalled peace process. But new complications have arisen: Israel announced today it refuses to stop constructing settlement in the West Bank. FSRN’s Karen Miller has more. [Read More]

The Christian Scientist Monitor
May 28, 2009
Israel rejects US call for settlement freeze
By Tom A. Peter
Israeli officials have quickly rejected the Obama administration's firm call Wednesday for a halt to Israeli settlements without exceptions. It is a new setback to President Obama's efforts to reignite peace talks between Israelis and Palestinians and comes as the president meets with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Thursday. [Read More]

AlterNet.org
May 27, 2009
Game-Changer? American Jews Reaching a Tipping Point on Israel
By Ira Chernus
The rules of the game played by the U.S. and Israel may very well be changing. Over the past four decades, those rules have been simple: The U.S. nudged Israel occasionally, the latter did pretty much whatever it liked anyway, and the Palestinians got the shaft. [Read More]

People's Weekly World
May 18, 2009
Obama expected to press Netanyahu on Palestinian state
By Susan Webb
In his meetings with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the White House today, President Obama was expected to press the right-wing Israeli leader to endorse a two-state solution to the Palestinian conflict and to come out in favor of negotiations to achieve that goal, and steps to help negotiations advance. [Read More]

The Roslindale/West Roxbury Transcript
May 13, 2009
Letter to the Editor: Thanks to Lynch for meeting
By Ramon Greenberg, M.D., Phyllis Bluhm, Daniel King, Vivienne Shalom, Donna Spiegelman
On April 14, six members from Brit Tzedek V’shalom, the Jewish Alliance for Justice and Peace were fortunate to meet with Congressman Stephen Lynch who had recently returned from a trip to Gaza. [Read More]

JTA
May 12, 2009
Brit Tzedek has got the president’s back
By Eric Fingerhut
Brit Tzedek V'Shalom has begun a nationwide campaign urging American Jews to sign a pledge entitled "We've Got Your Back, Mr. President." [Read More]

Jweekly.com
April 30, 2009
Horrors of war hit home for Gaza doctor
By Alexandra J. Wall
Dr. Izzeldin Abuelaish’s life was forever changed Jan. 16, when three of his daughters and a niece were killed by Israeli shells hitting the family’s apartment. [Read More]

The Cambridge Chronicle
April 28, 2009
Letter to the Editor: Let there be peace in the Middle East
By James Adler, Boston Chapter
In the spirit of the Cambridge Holocaust commemoration, may I make a heartfelt (and I believe tough-minded) plea for a strong regional peace process between beleaguered Israel and her neighbors? [Read More]

Time Out Chicago
April 16, 2009
Against-all-odds friendships
By Jake Malooley
As the violence in Gaza continues, the bond between Aliza Becker and Saffiya Shillo becomes even more necessary. [Read More]

The Jewish Chronicle
April 15, 2009
Gaza meets Pittsburgh
By Lee Chottiner
The last time Dr. Izzeldin Abuelaish spoke to Jewish Pittsburgh, it was through a satellite feed. This time, it was face-to-face. [Read More]

The Jewish Chronicle
April 13, 2009
Pittsburghers create new chapter of Brit Tzedek
Brit Tzedek v’Shalom, a national organization dedicated to promoting a two-state solution between the Israelis and Palestinians, has formed a new chapter in Pittsburgh. [Read More]

JTA
March 31, 2009
What everyone’s saying about the new Israeli government
Brit Tzedek v'Shalom hopes that "Israel’s leaders will now focus on making the pursuit of peace an immediate priority." [Read More]

Americans for Peace Now
March 30, 2009
UNRWA’s Gaza Director Briefs Congress on Humanitarian Crisis
Washington, D.C – The Director of the United Nation's Relief and Works Agency's Gaza operation will brief Members of Congress and their staffs on the humanitarian crisis this Tuesday. [Read More]

The Cleveland Sun News
March 20, 2009
Lakewood Public Library to explore peace in the Middle East through three programs
Lakewood Public Library will host the first of three programs on peace in the Middle East, "Searching for Peace in the Middle East," from 6:30 to 8:15 p.m. March 25. [Read More]

Jewish Review
March 19, 2009
Water politics debated here
By Amy Kaufman
To spur U.S. action on the global water crisis, Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D-Ore.) introduced the Sen. Paul Simon Water for the Poor Enhancement Act of 2008, and he reported recent successes in the implementation of this bill in his March 1 talk at Congregation Shir Tikvah. [Read More]

Wicked Local
March 10, 2009
Israel/Palestine conflict is subject of upcoming lecture
Professor David Matz, director of Graduate Programs in Dispute Resolution at UMass/Boston and national Board member of Brit Tzedek v’Shalom, the Jewish Alliance for Justice and Peace, will speak on “The Israeli-Palestinian Conflict: Short-Term Realities, Long-Term Prospects” at Temple Isaiah, 55 Lincoln Road, Monday, March 30 at 7:30 p.m [Read More]

Center for Progressive Leadership
March 9, 2009
Finding a Peaceful Solution to the Israel-Palestine Conflict
For over twenty years Steve Masters has been a leader in the pro-Israel, pro-peace movement in the United States. He has met with Israeli and Palestinian Prime Ministers, been a passionate advocate to Congress, and written and spoken extensively on the conflict. [Read More]

The Jerusalem Post
March 7, 2009
Peace brings security...
By James Adler, Boston Chapter
Sir, - If Israel cannot take out the Kassams in tiny, adjacent and flat Gaza, how can it can it hope to take out a nuclear program in giant, far-off and mountainous Iran? And if Israel launched an ineffective attack, why wouldn't Iran simply bide its time and launch a reprisal? [Read More]

The Jewish Chronicle
March 4, 2009
North Hills rabbi advocates two-state solution with his own blog
By Lee Chottiner
As a rabbi, Art Donsky finds that blogging offers the best of two worlds. “One thing a rabbi does is talk a lot,” the spiritual leader of Temple Ohav Shalom in the North Hills said. “We also write a lot.” So why not keep a blog? (That’s an online journal for those of you who are not Internet savvy.) [Read More]

The Daily Gazette
March 2, 2009
Bridging faiths is path to peace
By Michael Goot
The solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is not easy, but it must first start with people from each side understanding what the other side has to say. “I believe we can hear the other side,” said Ethan Bloch, co-founder of advocacy group Brit Tzedek v’Shalom (the Jewish Alliance for Justice and Peace) at the Interfaith Dialogue on the Middle East, adding that the problem is people do not take the opportunity to hear the other views. [Read More]

The Times Union
February 27, 2009
Interfaith panel on Middle East conflict set for Sunday
During the recent violence in Gaza, members of the Interfaith Alliance of New York State said they felt the need for calm dialogue, to learn from each other rather than score debating points about the crisis in the Middle East. [Read More]

JTA
February 24, 2009
U.S. Jewish leaders, including doves, duck on Lieberman
By Eric Fingerhut
Are Avigdor Lieberman's views dangerous to Israeli democracy or have they been blown out of proportion? [Read More]

People's Weekly World
February 19, 2009
Peace-seeking Israelis search for ‘new direction’
By Susan Webb
The rightward shift in Israel’s Feb. 10 elections shows that those seeking peace “must look in new directions,” says a leader of Israel’s left-liberal Meretz party. [Read More]

The Jerusalem Post
February 19, 2009
Mitchell expresses support for Palestinian unity government
By Hilary Leila Krieger
US Middle East Envoy George Mitchell expressed support for Egyptian efforts to forge a Palestinian national unity government, indicating that America could take a new tack on Fatah-Hamas reconciliation, during a conference call Thursday with Jewish leaders. [Read More]

Religion Dispaches
February 18, 2009
It’s Hard to be a Jew
By Ira Chernus
Schwer zu sein ein yid—“It’s hard to be a Jew”—my Yiddish-speaking grandmother used to say. In Eastern Europe, where she grew up, it was a saying well known to every Jew, and with good reason. [Read More]

The Jewish Review
February 15, 2009
Water scarcity, peace topic of March 1 program
By Deborah Moon
“Across the globe, a lack of clean water and sanitation forces many … into poverty. I believe that by securing and by sustainably managing freshwater supplies we have an opportunity to foster hope and peace,” said Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D-Ore.). [Read More]

The Huffington Post
February 11, 2009
Chicago Jewish, Muslim Leaders Reaffirm Solidarity, Condemn Hate
By Naazish Yar Khan
My friend Donna Yates of Poetry Pals has an observation - she says that unless Muslims and Jews are at each other's throats, there isn't an interest in the media to cover their relationship. She runs inter-faith poetry and art workshops in Chicagoland amongst students of Muslim, Jewish and Christian day time and weekend schools. And unfortunately, there's been little interest from the media. [Read More]

The Indiana Herald Times
February 5, 2009
Letter to the Editor: Heartbreak in Gaza
By Rita Lichtenberg
I am Jewish. I am a founding member of Congregation Beth Shalom. I have supported charities in Israel all of my adult life. My daughter spent a year at Hebrew University in Jerusalem, and my husband and I and our children lived in Israel for a year. [Read More]

The New York Times
February 2, 2009
Letter to the Editor: Covering the Competing Israeli-Palestinian Storylines
By Benjamin Solomon
I am a rather aged American Jew, a World War II veteran, who is a critic of Israel but who also sympathizes with Ethan Bronner's journalistic plight. Whatever one might say about Zionism and Israel's violent birth in 1948, its task then was to gain over time acceptance and a tolerable peace with its Arab neighbors. [Read More]

The Jewish Chronicle
January 30, 2009
Op-ed: Two states still best idea
By Allan Abrams, Kansas City Chapter
In last week’s Jewish Chronicle, Kansas Sen. Sam Brownback wrote nearly a full-page op-ed (reprinted from The Jerusalem Post), "Trash the two-state ‘solution’ for a better one." The senator’s entire argument is in the title of his article. But with all due respect, and notwithstanding his years of experience, including on the Foreign Relations Committee, the two-state "solution" is still the best option for Israeli-Palestinian peace. [Read More]

The Jewish Advocate
January 30, 2009
Push for peace, but do so wisely
Last week, President Obama took his first steps toward fulfilling his campaign promise of placing the Israeli-Palestinian conflict atop his agenda by appointing former Sen. George Mitchell as his Middle East envoy. And, as was expected, the move was both heralded and heavily criticized. [Read More]

The Jewish Advocate
January 30, 2009
Obama's choice of Middle East envoy makes waves
By James D. Besser
The appointment of a special envoy to breathe new life into Israeli-Palestinian negotiations is splitting the pro-Israel center while pleasing the Jewish left and outraging the right. [Read More]

JTA
January 22, 2009
Mitchell As Envoy Could Split Center
By James D. Besser
The expected appointment of a special envoy to breathe new life into Israeli-Palestinian negotiations could split the pro-Israel center while pleasing the Jewish left and outraging the right. The schism could be particularly deep if, as was widely reported this week, President Barack Obama appoints former Sen. George Mitchell to the job. [Read More]

The Jewish Review
January 15, 2009
Letter to the editor
By Jonathan Moss
I recently returned to Portland from a short family visit to Israel. My wife and I were there for 12 days. A few days after we arrived, Israel started its bombing of the Gaza strip. Israeli soldiers entered Gaza a day before we left. [Read More]

The Bangor Daily News
January 15, 2009
Op-ed: To be pro-Israel, be pro-peace
The American Jewish relationship with Israel has always been close. Israel is our spiritual homeland, and most of us feel a strong tie to both the place and the people. We worry when Israel is under attack, and we pray for an end to war. [Read More]

The Jewish Journal
January 15, 2009
War and Peace, Letter On Gaza
David Suissa offered some compelling thoughts in “Can War Bring Peace” (Jan. 9), including how supporters of Israel may all want peace, yet differ on the path to take toward that goal. We, who represent organizations that are directly linked to the Israel peace camp or are supportive of its overarching principles, fully agree. We claim no monopoly among our fellow supporters of Israel on the desire for peace, nor would we be pleased to have one. [Read More]

The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
January 15, 2009
Alternative voices on Gaza tonight
An open meeting today at the Jewish Community Center in Squirrel Hill will present views that oppose the war in Gaza from within Israel and the Pittsburgh Jewish community in a pro-Israeli context. The event will take place at 7 p.m. in Levinson Hall and will include live phone conferencing from Gaza and the Israeli town of Sderot. [Read More]

The Washington Times
January 14, 2009
Op-ed: When Israel expelled Palestinians
By Randall Kuhn
In the wake of Israel's invasion of Gaza, Israel's Defense Minister Ehud Barak made this analogy: "Think about what would happen if for seven years rockets had been fired at San Diego, California from Tijuana, Mexico." [Read More]

The Jewish Chronicle
January 14, 2009
Gazan physician speaks to Pittsburgh via phone at JCC
By Lee Chottiner
Dr. Izzedin Abuleish sits with his children in the middle of their apartment in the northern Gaza Strip. They have no electricity and they’re afraid to move about too much — Israeli soldiers are suspicious of any movement they see, he said.“It’s a real tragedy,” Abuleish told The Chronicle in a phone interview Wednesday from his apartment. “We see the death in front of us every moment. I am sitting with my children, helpless.” [Read More]

The New York Times
January 13, 2009
Letter to the Editor: The Goal Should Be Telling the Truth
By Ramon Greenberg
You present a clear discussion of readers’ concerns about coverage of the Israeli-Hamas conflict. But when you quote a reader as asking, “Where are the pro-Israel articles?,” you seem to accept “pro-Israel” to mean those who support the Israeli actions. I suggest that this needs further thought. The term has been appropriated by Aipac and its supporters without much questioning. [Read More]

North Andover Eagle-Tribune
January 11, 2009
Op-ed: Israel and Gaza: Where the solution does not lie
By Rabbi Ira L. Korinow, Boston Chapter
The current war being waged in Gaza and southern Israel has, as one might expect, given rise to criticism of Israel. The criticism, in turn, has caused supporters of Israel to become defensive and outraged. And if it hasn't, it should. But not in the way one might expect. [Read More]

The Jewish Voice and Herald
January 9, 2009
Letter to the Editor: Diplomatic solution essential for Israel
By Judy Kaye and Phil Rosen
NO ONE can doubt the right of Israel to protect its citizens from rocket fire by Hamas. As this is written in the last days of December, Israel has employed massive, surgical air strikes aimed at Hamas installations and personnel. A force buildup on the border threatens ground incursions into Gaza. [Read More]

Intermountain Jewish News
January 9, 2009
Brit Tzedek v’Shalom says attack won’t work
Rabbi Stephen Booth-Nadav of B’nai Havurah and the local Brit Tzedek v’Shalom chapter staunchly supports Israel’s right to defend itself. “Israel has an inherent right to stop the rockets –– but I can’t point to any example in Israel’s wars” where a prolonged incursion “has worked,” he says. “I’m sure other people can, but I can’t.” [Read More]

Intermountain Jewish News
January 9, 2009
Letter to the Editor: Needed: a ceasefire now
By Mark Belkin, Les Canges, Evelyn Hutt, Nancy Jackson, Randall Kuhn, Hanna Weston, Colorado Chapter
Who among us has not watched in alarm and anguish as the crisis  has unfolded in Gaza and southern Israel over the past two weeks? Though Israeli action is an understandable response to continued rocket fire from Hamas, and the idea of air strikes and ground war may seem compelling to those who see  no option for peace, these actions represent a huge escalation of the conflict — a crisis that may end in a wider war in which many more Palestinians and Israelis will die. [Read More]

International Herald Tribune
January 6, 2009
Letter to the Editor: Israel and its enemies
By James Adler, Boston Chapter
Regarding "Why Israel feels threatened" by Benny Morris (Views, Dec. 30): The writer claims Israel may be doomed by the nuclearization of Iran, the radicalization of the whole Middle East, and higher Israeli-Arab birth rates. [Read More]

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