Common Grounds

---

• Racism is the existential threat to Israel

  
  December 18, 2017 15:29

  Source: JEWS FOR JUSTICE FOR PALESTINIANS

  http://jfjfp.com/racism-is-the-existential-threat-to-israel/

   

  By Akiva Eldar, Al Monitor

  Published December 14, 2017

   

  Israeli defence minister’s comments highlight ‘plague of racism’

   

  Growing displays of xenophobia, incitement against minorities and legislation curtailing the freedom of human rights groups reflect the spread of racism within Israeli society.

  Read More

• Trump, Jerusalem, and the Future of Palestine

  
  December 20, 2017 14:26

  Source: Al-Shabaka

  https://al-shabaka.org/roundtables/trump-jerusalem-future-palestine/

   

  By Nur Arafeh, Dana El Kurd, Munir Nuseibah, Victor Kattan, Tareq Baconi 

  Published December 18, 2017

   

  What does Trump’s recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel mean for the future of Palestine and the Palestinians, and what does it reveal about US policy? Al-Shabaka policy analysts examine these questions and recommend ways for Palestinian civil society and leaders to safeguard Palestinian rights in the face of such a setback.

  Read More

• Palestinian rage will rise to the surface in time

  
  December 20, 2017 14:36

  Source: Tha National

  https://www.thenational.ae/opinion/palestinian-rage-will-rise-to-the-surface-in-time-1.685346

   

  By Jonathan Cook
  Published December 18, 2017

   

  Jerusalem's inhabitants will have to shame Israel, the US and the watching world by striving for a single state, writes Jonathan Cook

  Read More

• Why the struggle for free media in Israel-Palestine matters

  
  December 22, 2017 14:21

  Source: +972 Magazine

  https://972mag.com/why-the-struggle-for-free-media-in-israel-palestine-matters/131750/

   

  By Roi Maor
  Published December 21, 2017

   

  We are witnessing the emergence of a new kind of media in Israel and Palestine — the kind that truly has the potential to transform how we see this place.

  Read More

• We are all to blame for Trump’s decision on Jerusalem

  
  December 22, 2017 14:31

  Source: The Middle East Monitor

  https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20171220-we-are-all-to-blame-for-trumps-decision-on-jerusalem/

   

  By Shatha Khalil

  Publsihed December 20, 2017

   

  Two weeks after US President Donald Trump declared his administration’s recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital and protests are continuing in the occupied territories, however across the world people are silent.

  Read More

• Can Evangelicalism Survive Donald Trump and Roy Moore?

  
  December 24, 2017 17:23

  Source: The New Yorker

  https://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/can-evangelicalism-survive-donald-trump-and-roy-moore?utm_content=bufferce114&utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook.com&utm_campaign=buffer

   

  By Timothy Keller

  Publishedd December 19, 2017

   

  For centuries, renewal movements have emerged within Christianity and taken on different forms and names. Often, they have invoked the word “evangelical.” Followers of Martin Luther, who emphasized the doctrine of salvation by faith alone, described themselves in this way. The Cambridge clergyman Charles Simeon, who led the Low Church renewal movement within the Church of England, adopted the label. The trans-Atlantic eighteenth-century awakenings and revivals led by the Wesleys were also often called “evangelical.” In the nineteen-forties and fifties, Billy Graham and others promoted the word to describe themselves and the religious space they were seeking to create between the cultural withdrawal espoused by the fundamentalist movement, on the one hand, and mainline Protestantism’s departures from historic Christian doctrine, on the other. In each of these phases, the term has had a somewhat different meaning, and yet it keeps surfacing because it has described a set of basic historic beliefs and impulses.

  Read More

• Trump says US ‘foolishly spent $7 trillion in the Middle East’

  
  December 24, 2017 17:32

  Source: The Times of Israel

  https://www.timesofisrael.com/trump-says-us-foolishly-spent-7-trillion-in-the-middle-east/?utm_source=The+Times+of+Israel+Daily+Edition&utm_campaign=f2b0b157ee-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2017_12_22&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_adb46cec92-f2b0b157ee-54647837

   

  By TOI STAFF and AP

  Published 22 December 2017

   

  After Jerusalem defeat at UN General Assembly, US president tweets it is time to start focusing funds on rebuilding America

  Read More

• Why there are few Christians left in the holy town of Bethlehem

  
  December 26, 2017 15:01

  Source: The National

  https://www.thenational.ae/opinion/comment/why-there-are-few-christians-left-in-the-holy-town-of-bethlehem-1.690137

   

  By Jonathan Cook
  Published December 24, 2017

   

  Israel's blockade has eroded the number of Palestinian Christians upholding ancient rites in the birthplace of Jesus, writes Jonathan Cook

  Read More

• Pope Francis Uses Christmas Speech to Call for Two-state Solution Following Trump's Jerusalem Decision

  
  December 26, 2017 15:12

  Source: Haaretz

  https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/1.831138

   

  Reuters

  Published Dec 25, 2017

   

  In his annual 'Urbi et Orbi' Christmas address, Pope Francis feels 'winds of war' in world following Trump's recognition of Jerusalem as Israel's capital, 'sees Jesus' in suffering children worldwide

  Read More

• Jerusalem isn't only Jewish, and that's what makes it beautiful

  
  December 27, 2017 14:37

  Source: +972 Magazine

  https://972mag.com/jerusalem-isnt-only-jewish-and-thats-what-makes-it-beautiful/131923/

   

  By David Sarna Galdi

  Published December 26, 2017

   

  Jerusalem is Jewish and Israeli, but there is an uncomfortable truth Israelis must come to terms with: the city is equally Arab — inherently, inescapably, and wonderfully Arab.

  Read More