Common Grounds

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• Why the March of Hope inspired few Israeli politicians

  
  October 24, 2016 12:45

  Source: Al-Monitor

  http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2016/10/march-of-hope-women-peace-movement-netanyahu-left.html

   

  By Mazal Mualem

   

  The biggest peace event of the past few years in Israel received a lukewarm reception from the media and evasive responses from the country’s ministers and most of the Knesset members invited to participate. Organized by Women Wage Peace, the March of Peace left Rosh HaNikra, on the border with Lebanon, on Oct. 4, and ended about two weeks later, on Oct. 19, with a rally outside the prime minister’s residence on Balfour Street in Jerusalem. At that final event, thousands of Israeli and Palestinian women, all dressed in white, demanded a diplomatic agreement to end the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

   

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• When the Going Gets Tough …What Happens?

  
  October 14, 2016 19:17

  The Times of Israel, OCTOBER 14, 2016, 5:29 PM

   

  By: Abraham A. van Kempen

  The Hague, The Netherlands

   

  When the going gets tough, what happens? Celebrations follow calamities. Here is to life, L’Chaim; Yo'iz, to cherish – to appreciate, to value, to respect – life! People are also good.

   

  After the hurricane here in Florida, neighbors came out to help. Some we have never met before. Everyone pitched in and helped out. Mathew brought us together.

   

  Once I bemoaned to Mrs. Rita Kok, wife of our former Minister President, Wim Kok, what’s wrong with the Dutch? Why is it that so many of us can’t walk through the same door? We don’t talk to each other when we could be bridging our differences.

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• Lessons Learned from Mediating the Camp David Accords

  
  November 09, 2016 14:41

   

  By: Nicolas A. Hoffman, MA

        Conflict Management & International Economics

        Executive Director at Oneblue.org

   

  "For the past few years Nicolas has been writing on issues ranging from conflict and mediation analysis, foreign policy in the MENA region, to human rights issues. With regards to his work at the Muslim Public Affairs Council focused, he focused on writing human rights reports on countries (MENA and South Asia) that claim to be Muslim via their legislation through Islamic and secular lenses. Said publications’ focus is on democratic indicators, constitutional rights/legal rights, civil liberties issues, women’s rights, minority rights, ease of doing business, and migrant/refugee rights."

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• Excerpts … My Open Letters to Chancellor Angela Merkel and His Royal Highness King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al-Saud

  
  October 24, 2016 21:53

  The Times of Israel, AUGUST 19, 2016, 7:02 AM

   

  By: Abraham A. van Kempen

  The Hague, The Netherlands

   

  Imagine, Madam Chancellor, the Israelis and the Palestinians in full reconciliation, living apart together, within one homeland inside two borderless states, rejoicing freedom of movement and the right of passage, sharing Jerusalem and the region not too different from the BENELUX countries (Belgium, Netherlands and Luxembourg), the forerunners of the open borders of the European Union (EU)? “Can we quietly Cross the Boundary of Life and Find New Meaning in Our Tangled Roots of Our Combined Histories,” a whisper of hope from American poet, Dario Robleto?

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• Dishing out Nutrients of Peace Smorgasbord-style: Nourishing Broken Hearts

  
  October 12, 2016 17:46

  The Times of Israel, OCTOBER 3, 2016, 9:57 PM

   

  By: Abraham A. van Kempen

  The Hague, The Netherlands

   

  Part 3 of 3

   

  Can and will the Israelis and the Palestinians destroy their enemy by becoming friends with all the give and take to make and keep the friendship? They will want nothing more than a full reconciliation with their neighbors. “We can’t get away getting something for nothing … we can’t get away with murder … let’s tear down the walls between us, share the land, and break bread together … and here is cash, earnest money, a compensatory resolve to seal the deal.” “We cannot give up on the search for an end to this conflict,” says President Barack Obama in his response to my letter dated 16 August 2016.

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• Dishing out Nutrients of Peace Smorgasbord-style…Nourishing Broken Hearts

  
  October 12, 2016 17:47

  The Times of Israel, September 26, 2016, 7:44 PM

   

  By: Abraham A. van Kempen

  The Hague, The Netherlands

   

  Part 2 of 3

   

  What are they waiting for? When will they serve the main entre, the most tasteful that the best of the best chefs can offer? The sweet aroma of peace is in the air, all around us. A clear majority on all sides of the Divide wants peace (Israeli Jews, 73.8%*; Israeli Arabs, 97%*; and the Palestinian Arabs, 85.7%*). This is affirmed by the Jerusalem-based Israel Democracy Institute and the Ramallah-based Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research (executive summary here, full survey here). Are they just stumbling over their own hurdles? Is a movement toward peace solely about real estate, jobs, position, or status? Or, should it be about humanity, community, and the public interest. When Dr. Martin Luther King talks about the mountaintop, he is talking about a higher level of consciousness, a movement that harmonizes the “I” with the “we” and the “we” with the “I.”

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• One state? Two states? Israeli Jews aren't the ones to decide

  
  February 23, 2017 12:45

  Source: +972 Magazine

  By Orly Noy
  Published February 18, 2017

  https://972mag.com/one-state-two-states-israeli-jews-arent-the-ones-to-decide/125295/

  This article was first published in Hebrew on Local Call. Read it here.

   

   

  Trump’s recent remarks may have sparked a debate on the possibility of the one-state solution, but one thing is for sure: Israeli Jews are not in a position to decide the future of the occupied territories. 

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• Resolving the Israel-Palestine conflict EXPECT NOTHING FROM TRUMP

  
  February 22, 2017 22:45

  Sorce: Qantara.de

  https://en.qantara.de/content/resolving-the-israel-palestine-conflict-expect-nothing-from-trump

   

  By Sam Bahour and Mousa Jiryis

  Sam Bahour and Mousa Jiryis are policy analysts with Al-Shabaka: The Palestinian Policy Network. An earlier version of this commentary was published by Al-Shabaka and can be accessed by clicking here.

   

  While the US continues to turn a blind eye to settlement expansion, the international community and the EU in particular are left with the responsibility of ensuring that everyday life in the Palestinian enclaves does not collapse. Time for a rethink, argue policy analysts Sam Bahour and Mousa Jiryis

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• US urges Human Rights Council to end ‘obsession with Israel’

  
  March 01, 2017 19:21

   

  Source: The Times of Israel

  BY AP AND TIMES OF ISRAEL STAFF March 1, 2017, 4:58 pm

   

  Envoy Erin Barclay says relative indifference to ongoing abuses in Syria, North Korea undermining credibility of UN body

   

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• Out the Closet …

  
  March 07, 2017 22:03

  The Times of Israel, MARCH 7, 2017, 10:16 PM

   

  By: Abraham A. van Kempen

  The Hague, The Netherlands

   

  I can’t suppress it any longer. I must express exactly how I feel. It’s who I am.

   

  We can’t continue fooling ourselves. When will we realise we cannot fool all of the people all of the time, especially ourselves? Around the world, Israel has lost the war in the Greater Court of World Public Opinion. Why is it that every person I meet, religious or secular, tells me: “You can’t get away getting something for nothing. You can’t get away with murder”.

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