Nova Newsletter

NOVANEWS Dear Friends, 8 items below Items 1 and 2 are about the Palestinian Land Day—item 1 precedes it, whereas item 2 reports on how it went.  I preferred the Al Jazeera version, as more neutral, than the Ynet one (which speaks of Land Day riots rather than protests or demonstrations) and even also the Haaretz one, but in case they interest you, I include the links to both at the end of the report on events during the protest-demonstrations. Item 3 reports that “The World Social Forum marks a renewed commitment to the Palestinian cause.”  Bravo to the Forum. Item 4 describes Good Friday in Jerusalem this year from the standpoint of a vendor of crosses and of some of the pilgrims taking part in the event. Item 5 depicts “Ongoing Israeli settlement activity in the West Bank along with the...

NOVANEWS   Dear Friends, 7 items below, all but one (item 3) from Haaretz.  It had so much to offer today that I felt it was enough. I am beginning to cut back.  We leave on April 9th, and I have to prepare for speaking in the States.  I’ll return to sending materials at the beginning of June.  Meanwhile, those on the New Profile list will continue to receive messages from other of our members. As for the items below: In item 1 Gideon Levy and Alex Levac relate the reactions of 7 and 8 year old Palestinian children to their arrests.  Yes, you heard correctly.  Israel arrests children.  After all, they throw rocks.  Imagine your child or grandchild being dragged off by soldiers, especially ones from an enemy army!  Not to mention the feelings of the child, be it 7, 8, 9, 10 years old o...

NOVANEWS Debating BDS in midair ‘Talk is cheap’ — Jon Stewart weighs in on Obama trip Two readings for Passover Freed but not free: Gaza welcomes detainee and former hunger striker Ayman Sharawna Apartheid, Bantustans and Obama’s empty words (Walt and Miller agree) Obama went to Israel to try to rescue the state from deepening isolation   Debating BDS in midair Mar 26, 2013 Dalit Baum When getting unto a long flight like my flight from the U.S. back home to Tel Aviv, there is always some tension before meeting the person sitting next to me, the person I am about to spend a day and a night with in a cramped double seat. This is one of the most intimate settings imaginable, tenderly repositioning a stranger as he dozes off and starts drooling on your shoulder… The guy who pushed...

NOVANEWS Dear Friends, Just 6 items below, and none very long. The small number of items today is not due to their not being more news.  I’m just too tired to read anymore—the result of going to bed at 3AM last night after returning home from our son’s family where we went for the Seder, about 1 ½ hour’s drive away. I really haven’t any desire to celebrate Jewish holidays, and among those that I have the least desire for is Passover.  I find it disgusting to celebrate our (Jewish) attainment of freedom from slavery when Israeli Jews deny another people their freedom, and continue to oppress not only Palestinians but also refugees seeking a refuge, but especially Palestinians. Still, I place a great deal of importance on family, and so would not turn my back on my children when they ask us ...

NOVANEWS Obama gets it Obama’s heckler asked about Rachel Corrie, not Jonathan Pollard ‘NYT’ quietly buries Ben Ehrenreich’s piece Yair Lapid, centrist star and Finance Minister, plans 16,000 new settlement units in West Bank Geyer says ‘many Americans’ are displeased with special relationship Tribalism in the Jerusalem speech ‘Decades of a failed peace process’ points to inevitable one state outcome — filmmaker Ungar-Sargon What Obama missed: Protests of settler highway that will cut J’lem neighborhood in two Obama gets it Mar 23, 2013 12:34 pm | Philip Weiss The Obama trip to Israel and Palestine will be studied for a long time. The political meanings are layered, and not easily decipherable. And on our site, it falls to me to emphasize the positive, the extent to which Obama's...

NOVANEWS Dear Friends, 10 items below—too many items, I know, but Obama’s visit took precedence over other items also important.  Am trying to catch up, and with that, have left aside a couple of items that I much want to send, but that can wait for a day when there is less to distribute. Item 1 is about education and racism in Israel.  The article was published in the Hebrew print edition of Haaretz about 4 days ago.  I have been checking since, and debated translating to English if it would not have been by Haaretz. Thank goodness it is here.  Hopefully the incoming Minister of Education will be vastly different from his predecessor, Gideon Sa’ar.  Time will tell. One thing is fairly certain: he (the new minister) could not be much worse.  Sa’ar was one of the most nationalistic Minist...

NOVANEWS Dear Friends, Thanks to Obama, Israel has once again for a few days been front-page or at least opinion page news in the international and national media.  My own view as to Obama’s achievement is skeptical, but slightly hopeful that I am wrong.  While Obama succeeded in bringing Bibi to apologize to Erdogan for the Mavi Marmara massacre, this had more to do with American interests than Israeli ones.  How Obama managed to convince Netanyahu we might not know soon, but I’m relatively certain that it involved a good deal more than just saying ‘please, as a friend, do apologize.’ The scenario that will follow Obama’s visit is John Kerry’s visits and talks with both sides.  We’ve had that before.  All that this has brought about is more talks, more colonies and colonists in the WB, ...

NOVANEWS Dear Friends, 10 items below, but none is overly long—except the final on, ‘Today in Palestine,’ which seems to have more reports than usual, each event worse than the other—well, perhaps equally bad. Item 1 is a statement by hunger striker Samer al-Issawi on the Israeli move to release him from prison if he agreed to deportation for 10 years to Gaza.  Issawi adamantly and feelingly refuses.  He explains why. Item 2 is a brief report by Haggai Matar on what is known in Israel as “internal refugees,” that is to say, Palestinians who were forced out of their villages, but who remained in Israel though not allowed to return to their villages.  In the case that Haggai writes about, some recently have decided to return notwithstanding Israel’s continued refusal. Item 3 reports that...

NOVANEWS Wednesday, March 13, 2013 1 Are Israel’s refusers modern day heroes?All facets of refusal may be instrumental in changing the conscription process and refusal to serve in the Israeli military is not always the outcome of opposing the Occupation. It takes courage and demands fortitude and wide support. http://972mag.com/are-israels-refusers-modern-day-heroes/67525/ By Ruth L. Hiller Natan Blanc (courtesy of the family) [use link to see photo. D] Different people refuse to enlist in Israel’s occupation army for a variety of reasons. Some of them, like Natan Blanc, publicly refuse to serve in the occupation and are willing to go to jail over their decision. A recent blog post by professor of Environmental Studies at Emory College Uriel Kitron, raised some very important points regar...

NOVANEWS 1 Haaretz Monday, March 11, 2013 At education, let's give Yesh Atid a chance Likud's Gideon Sa'ar is maybe the most anti-education Education Minister. This should be a good enough reason to transfer the ministry to Yesh Atid. http://www.haaretz.com/news/national/at-education-let-s-give-yesh-atid-a-chance.premium-1.508539 By Or Kashti | Mar.11, 2013 | 2:11 AM |  1  Gideon Sa'ar outside a polling station in Tel Aviv during the Likud's primaries, Nov. 25, 2012. Photo by Moti Milrod The battle over the Education Ministry was to be decided late Sunday night - the fight was between Likud's Gideon Sa'ar and Yesh Atid's Shay Piron. Over the past few days Sa'ar has repeatedly declared he wants to remain at the ministry, where he has been in charge for all of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanya...