The Great Debate

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• Why Now? The Arab Peace Corps

  
  August 18, 2016 10:55

   

  By Mr. Sami Jamil Jadallah, JD

      Founder and Executive Director

      New Arab Foundation

      www.newarabfoundation.org   

      www.arabpeacecorps.org

   

  Mr. Sami Jamil Jadallah is a Palestinian-American immigrant with over 50 years in the US and is a Veteran of the US Army where he received leadership award.

  Sami attended Indiana University where he earned his BA, MPA/School of Public and Environmental Affairs and Doctor of Jurisprudence.

  After a two-year stint with a major Wall Street law firm, Sami and for the last 35 years served as international legal and business consultants with clients from the Middle East, Europe, Latin America and the US.

   

  It is in times of wars, conflicts, chaos, terrorism and despair; investments in peace and development become more urgent.

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• Taking Off At Full Throttle

  
  April 04, 2016 13:00

  Abraham A. van Kempen, Editor

   

  How else? Is there any other way to take off but at full throttle? To eventually soar through the clouds, you’ll need all the torque you can get, maximum thrust to overcome resistance. That’s what it’s going to take to secure real and sustainable peace. In the past, those in command of the peace talks dare not take off at full throttle. The results: one deadlock after the other. Oslo, Ottawa, Shepherdstown, The Wye Plantation, Annapolis, Geneva, Madrid, Nicosia, Washington, D.C., London, Bonn, and Vienna have succeeded in producing stalemates often ending in standoffs with one foot in the stirrup, the other in the sand.

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• Where Is Obama’s Red Line on Israel?

  
  October 12, 2016 17:49

  Source: The Nation

  Oct 11 2016

  https://www.thenation.com/article/where-is-obamas-red-line-on-israel/

   

  By Mairav Zonszein

   

  Israel has already chosen settlements, and Greater Israel, over a two-state solution. Washington needs to come to terms with that.

   

  In his statement condemning Israel’s latest settlement announcement, State Department spokesman Mark Toner said, “Israelis must ultimately decide between expanding settlements and preserving the possibility of a peaceful two state solution.”

   

  But in fact, that decision has already been made by the Israeli public and is consistently reflected by the policies of its elected leaders. The settlement population has doubled over the past 20 years and now stands at between 550,000 and 600,000; there are more settlers in positions of power than in any other time in Israeli history; the current Netanyahu coalition is explicitly and implicitly against a two-state solution and a significant portion of its members openly advocate annexation of 60 percent of the West Bank; fewer and fewer Israelis polled say they support a Palestinian state or see any need for a two-state solution. 

   

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• If Israel Lets in Palestinian Refugees, Will It Lose Its Jewish Character?

  
  October 17, 2016 19:32

  Source: Forward

  http://forward.com/opinion/352075/if-israel-lets-in-palestinian-refugees-will-it-lose-its-jewish-character/

   

  By Joshua Schreier and Mira Sucharov

   

  We watched with admiration as Hagai El-Ad of B’Tselem and Lara Friedman of Americans for Peace Now appeared recently before the U.N. Security Council to urge action against the Israeli occupation. The session was framed as a discussion of settlements in the context of “peace” and a “two-state solution.” But behind the occupation lurks an even more vexing issue: that of the “right of return” for Palestinian refugees. We feel we need to unpack this issue — and the assumptions about demographics that animate it — if we’re going to make real headway on countering the occupation.

   

  The vast majority of Israelis, even most on the Israeli left, argue that admitting the Palestinian refugees would lead Israel to lose its “Jewish character.” For them, a Jewish-majority state provides the Jewish people with a degree of security and justice. Yet many Palestinians and their increasingly numerous and vocal supporters in North America and Europe see no justice in Israel’s exclusionary policies allowing all Jews, but no Palestinians, to “return” to the country.

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• Jimmy Carter to Barack Obama: Recognize The State Of Palestine

  
  November 29, 2016 17:51

   

  Source: Newsweek

  http://europe.newsweek.com/jimmy-carter-barack-obama-recognize-state-palestine-526252?rm=eu

   

  BY JACK MOORE ON 11/29/16 AT 1:28 PM

   

  The former U.S. president has urged the outgoing leader to make a bold and unprecedented move.

   

  Former U.S. president Jimmy Carter, who brokered peace between Egypt and Israel at Camp David, has called on Barack Obama to recognize the State of Palestine (as the United Nations refers to the non-member observer state) before he leaves office in January.

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• Palestinian citizens of Israel are key to resisting the occupation

  
  April 18, 2017 19:42

  Source: +972 Magazine

   

  By Rida Abu Rass

  Published April 17, 2017

  https://972mag.com/palestinian-citizens-of-israel-are-key-to-resisting-the-occupation/126679/

   

  If Palestinians with Israeli citizenship, those who have grown up in Israeli society and lived alongside Jewish Israelis, were to truly organize and leverage their unique position, it would be impossible to break without ripping off the mask of apartheid.

   

  

  Israeli riot police cut off a march by Palestinian citizens of Israel protesting home demolitions, Ar’ara, January 21, 2017. (Keren Manor/Activestills)

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• Open letter to President Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin

  
  January 16, 2017 14:13

  The Hague, 16 January 2017

   

   

  President Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin

  Влади́мир Влади́мирович Пу́тин

  President of the Russian Federation

  23, Ilyinka street

  Moscow, Russia, 103132

  103132, Россия, Москва,ул. Ильинка, д. 23, Администрация Президента РФ

   

  Taking Off At Full Throttle …

   

  “The world cannot impose peace upon the Israelis and Palestinians”, says French President Mr Francois Hollande but warned, “the Middle East cannot be stabilised without an accord”.

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

  
  October 12, 2016 17:47

  The Times of Israel, September 5, 2016, 1:18 am

   

  By: Abraham A. van Kempen

  The Hague, The Netherlands

   

  Part 1 of 3

   

  The Palestinian–Israeli Pulse: A Joint Poll, released on 22 August 2016 strongly suggests that the vanilla-flavored, one-bite-feeds-all peace fare is not appetizing enough to satisfy everyone. All sides are coming to the table with their own dietary demands; and, they’d rather go home hungry than to try out different recipes. We’re going to need a Plethora of Possibilities to make Peace a Palatable Preference. And everyone knows ‘Trust is the Thrust’ but few, if any, trust the other. So, the prospects of peace continue to be a prayer without end.

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• President-Elect Trump…Will You Deliver?

  
  November 10, 2016 12:28

  The Times of Israel, NOVEMBER 9, 2016, 9:00 PM

   

  By: Abraham A. van Kempen

  The Hague, The Netherlands

   

  CONGRATULATIONS!

   

  Dear Mr. President-Elect,

   

  Though I could not fathom a Trump Presidency; a heartfelt congratulations, nonetheless. I thought I understood America. I am beginning to understand Americans. What a humbling experience. And now we must adapt to the new realities because truth, real or imagined, dictates.

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• Is the Israeli occupation in Palestine forever?

  
  October 19, 2021 14:19

  Source: Daily Sabah

  https://www.dailysabah.com/opinion/op-ed/is-the-israeli-occupation-in-palestine-forever

   

  By NAJLA M. SHAHWAN

  Published October 15, 2021

   

  A global mobilization is still lacking to end Israel's wrongdoings, and it naturally brings up the question of whether Palestinians will ever be able to exit the bloody conflict

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