Jewish American Heritage Month

Posted By admin on July 14, 2017

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A Palestinian boy cooling off during a heat wave at the al-Shati refugee camp in Gaza City, July 2, 2017.

JERUSALEM (JTA)-An internal Palestinian dispute has left Gaza's nearly 2 million Palestinian residents dangerously vulnerable to a heat wave, but Israel could get burned, too.

The West Bank Palestinian Authority has recently spearheaded a sharp reduction of electricity to the coastal enclave with Israel's cooperation, resulting in the exacerbation of Gaza's already dire humanitarian crisis and hints of new alliances that could lead to new military conflict with Israel.

The electricity cuts are part of a power play bythe Palestinian Authority against Hamas, its rival Palestinian faction that governs the territory. Hamas has looked to Egypt for help-a development that could auger further conflict with Israel.

Amid the political wrangling, a newU.N reportsaid Gaza gets electricity just four to six hours a day, down from the recent normal flow of eight to 12 hours a day.Water is availablea few hours every three to five days with desalination plants operating at 15 percent of capacity. Hospital care has suffered, and 29 million gallons of sewage is flooding into the Mediterranean Sea every day and threatening to overflow into the streets.

In recent days temperatures in the region have soared to over 98 degrees,with Israel reporting record-breaking demand for electricity on Sunday and Monday.

"The situation in Gaza has becoming increasingly precarious over recent months," Robert Piper, the United Nations' humanitarian coordinator for the Occupied Palestinian Territory, said in a plea to diplomats here Monday for $25.2 of emergency funding. "No one is untouched by the energy crisis."

How did Gaza get here?

In 2007, Hamas violently seized control of the territory from Fatah, the political faction that dominates the Palestinian Authority government. In the decade since the coup, Israel-along with Egypt-has largely sealed off Gazafrom land, air and sea.

According to Israel, theblockade is necessary to keep weapons and material out of the hands of Hamas, which has terrorized and warred with the Jewish state and vowed its destruction. Israelhas allowed humanitarian goods to enter Gaza and permitted some Gazans to come for medical care.

The Palestinian Authority has continued to pay for most of Gaza's electricity, which Israel has suppliedand is paid for with taxes it collects on behalf of the West Bank government. Gaza's sole power plant and, to a lesser extent, Egypt have supplied the rest.

The power crisisbegan in April, when the Gazapower plantshut down for lack of diesel fuel. Hamas refused to buy more fuel from the Palestinian Authority, complaining the taxes it charged were too high. In June, the Palestinian Authority announced it would reduce its payments to Israel for Gaza's electricity by 40 percent. In response, Israel has gradually decreasedthe power supply to the territory-by 35 percent as of Sunday.

The Palestinian Authority has said it hopes to pressure Hamas to hand over control of Gaza.Since April, the Palestinian Authority has also slashedthe salariesit has paid to tens of thousands of employees of the pre-Hamas government for not working and dramatically reduced medical aid to Gaza. On Tuesday, the Palestinian Authority fired more than 6,000 of those employees.

Rather than capitulating, Hamas has looked to Egypt for help. In late June, Cairobegansupplying fuel for Gaza's power plant-though not enough to compensate for the Israeli cuts.Hamas has also apparently been working toward forming a new governmentin Gaza with Mohammad Dahlan, a former Fatah strongmanin Gaza withclose ties to Egypt who helped broker the fuel shipments.

Making nice with Dahlan appeared to be an attempt by Hamas towin an opening of its Rafah border crossing with Egypt, which would give it a portalwith the outside world and alleviate the humanitarian crisis. Neither Hamas nor the Palestinian Authority have been on good terms with Dahlan. Hamas chased him out of Gaza in 2007, and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas exiled him from the Palestinian territories in 2011, deeming hima political threat.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman have said the electricity cuts are an internal Palestinian issueand Israel would restore full power were someone to foot the bill. But some officials have questioned whether Gaza's suffering is in Israel's interest. Energy Minister Yuval Steinitz, a close associate of the prime minister, last month saidit was "unacceptable" for Abbas to dictate Israeli policy.

Last week, municipal and regional leaders in Israel rejectedthe announcement of a government-planned pipeline that would require them totreat the sewage that has flowedinto their communities from waterwaysin northern Gaza.

"Israel's interest is to allocate electricity to Gaza for civilian causes," Alon Schuster, the head of the Shaar Hanegev Regional Council, told JTA. "I believe our policy should be to give the Palestinians what they need, and not to torture them in any case."

Hamas' political maneuvering could also have security implications. An alliance with Abbas' political nemesis might well widen the rift between Hamas and Fatah. Further, ifhistory is any guide, Hamas would make use of any increase in the flow of people and goods through Rafahto bolster its military capabilities. That would make another war with Israel all the more devastating.

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How Gaza's electricity crisis could spell trouble for Israel - Heritage Florida Jewish News

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Posted By simmons on July 14, 2017

NEW YORK (JTA) Several times a month Jeanette Chawki welcomes a handful of strangers into her Brooklyn home. There, the visitors learn about life in her native Lebanon, talk about their own backgrounds, and eat food lots of it. Among the dishes visitors tried on a recent Saturday include freshly baked cheese-stuffed bread, tangy labneh with zaatar, chopped fattoush salad topped with fried pita bread and smoky babaganoush.

Chawki, a mother of three who moved to the United States in 2006, is one of nine instructors employed by the League of Kitchens, a New York-based business that offers cooking workshops taught by immigrant cooks.

She hopes that people come away from her class both with the ability to cook at least one new dish and a greater awareness of Lebanese culture.

I want [them] to know how Lebanese people are very generous, very friendly. I want to explain how we have [such a] wonderful country, its very nice, very good place to visit, and I would like to explain more about our food, Chawki said.

The League of Kitchens, whose name is a play on the League of Nations, was itself inspired by a familys unique immigration story: Founder Lisa Gross fathers family is of Hungarian Jewish heritage and moved to the United States in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, while her mother emigrated from Korea in her 20s.

The fact that I grew up moving between two cultures moving between American Jewish culture and Korean culture also underlies this whole project. That gave me a certain comfort and understanding how to move between cultures, and connect between cultures, and thats really what were doing here, creating these opportunities for cross-cultural learning and exchange, Gross told JTA.

Gross, who founded the business in 2014, said providing ways for people to interact with immigrants has taken on an added significance following the election of Donald Trump, who campaigned on a promise to build a wall on the border with Mexico and restrict Muslims from traveling to the U.S.

An interesting side effect of the election has been a growth of interest in our business. I think people feel like not only is this a cool and fun experience, but its taken on political significance of supporting a company that is very much about recognizing and celebrating immigrants, Gross said.

Workshops are taught by instructors from countries including Nepal, Mexico and Afghanistan, cost between $110 and $175 per person and run between two and a half to five and a half hours. Instructors receive 40-50 hours of paid training prior to teaching, are paid $25 per hour for the workshops, including preparation and clean up, and are compensated for ingredients.

I could really see and understand the immigrant experience in very personal way, said Gross, 35, a former food writer who founded the urban agriculture project Boston Tree Party. Its so clear to me how much our country is built by immigrants, and the immigrants who come here bring so much expertise, energy and passion, and they contribute so much to our culture and society and to our food culture American food is immigrant food.

During her childhood in Washington, D.C., Gross felt like both insider and outsider in two cultures.

There was a little bit of a feeling of I dont really fit totally in either one, she said. Obviously within a typical Ashkenazi American Jewish community, I look a little Asian thats become more and more common, especially for younger kids, but for my generation [it wasnt]. I definitely didnt fit into the Korean/Korean American community, which in a lot of ways is very homogeneous and also theyre Christian.

Still, that didnt stop Gross from being involved in the Jewish community. At the urging of her mother, who converted to Judaism prior to marrying her father, Gross attended a Jewish day school through the age of 13. And the family would go to her fathers parents to celebrate the holidays and eat traditional Jewish food.

Gross hopes her workshops can provide a way to reverse preconceived notions both about immigrants and chefs.

[T]he immigrant, instead of being the displaced person in the inferior position, in this situation the immigrant is the teacher, the expert, the host, and they are people with incredible knowledge and expertise, and the students are really excited to learn from them and to hear their stories, Gross said.

And though it wasnt intentional, all League of Kitchens instructors are women.

In our contemporary food media landscape, so often its the white male celebrity chef who is recognized and celebrated, when most cooking around the world is done by women. And here are women who are immigrant women, who people might pass them and not think twice, but they have something really special to share. Creating a way for them to share that is really exciting, she said.

Chawki, who has worked for League of Kitchens since its launch, said she has had people visiting from around the United States and the world including England, Canada, Switzerland to attend her workshops.

People are coming from different countries, faraway, just to eat my food, to have class with me. This really mean[s something] to me, Chawki said.

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How a Korean-Jewish entrepreneur uses food to empower immigrants - Jewish Post

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Posted By admin on July 14, 2017

The left-leaning Southern Poverty Law Center has come under fire for its labeling of a Christian nonprofit organization -- dedicated to defending "religious freedom, sanctity of life, and marriage and family" -- as a hate group.

But theAlliance Defending Freedom isn't the only conservative, traditional-value organization the SPLC smears as a hate group. Fox News found at least six other groups that are conservative and explicitly nonviolent but branded as hate organizations by the SPLC.

The SPLC based in Montgomery, Ala. is a nonprofitlegal advocacy organization specializing incivil rightsandpublic interest litigation, dedicated to "fighting hate and bigotry and to seeking justice for the most vulnerable members of our society. "

On June 11, Attorney General Jeff Sessions gave a speech to members of the Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF), the religious freedom group,prompting some media outlets, like ABC and NBC News, to label the ADF a "hate group."

A number of the socially conservative organizations the SPLC labels as hate groups, because of their views on LGBT issues, have beliefs about such issues that are strikingly similar to those of the Roman Catholic Church.

The networks reportedly base that characterization on the assessment of the SPLC.

The SPLC list includes several genuine hate groups such as the Ku Klux Klan and Neo-Nazi and Holocaust denial groups. But the organization's list also includes many conservative groups that -- while socially controversial -- are peaceful organizations that say they do not advocate hate or violence.

A hate group, by definition, is one that promotes and practices hatred, hostility, or violence toward members of a race, ethnicity, nation, religion, gender, gender identity or sexual orientation.

A number of the socially conservative organizations the SPLC labels as hate groups, because of their views on LGBT issues, have beliefs about such issues that are strikingly similar to those of the Roman Catholic Church.

In addition to the Alliance Defending Freedom, the SPLC also includes these socially conservative groups onits "hatewatch" list:

--Family Research Council, a nonprofit, charitable and conservative Christiangroup andlobbyingorganization. It says its mission is "to advance faith, family and freedom in public policy and the culture from a Christian worldview."

--American Family Association, a nonprofit group that promotes fundamentalist Christian values and opposes same-sex marriage, pornography and abortion.

--American College of Pediatricians,asocially conservativeadvocacy group ofpediatriciansand other health-care professionals. The group was founded in 2002 as a protest against the American Academy of Pediatrics' support foradoption by gay couples.

--Family Research Institute, a Colorado-based, nonprofit that states it has "... one overriding mission: to generate empirical research on issues that threaten the traditional family, particularly homosexuality, AIDS, sexual social policy, and drug abuse."

--World Congress of Families, a coalition that promotes Christian right values internationally and opposes same-sex marriage, pornography and abortion.

--Liberty Counsel,an international litigation, education and policy organization that says its dedicated to advancing religious freedom and protecting the sanctity of life.

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Southern Poverty Law Center brands some peaceful groups as 'hate groups' - Fox News

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Posted By simmons on July 14, 2017

In the latest sign of the growing rift between the Saudi-led Gulf states and Qatar, the foreign minister of the United Arab Emirates blasted Qatars Al-Jazeera network on Wednesday for promoting anti-Semitism and Holocaust denial.

Anwar Gargash, the UAEs minister for foreign affairs, charged that Al-Jazeera promoted anti-Semitic violence by broadcasting sermons by the spiritual leader of the Muslim Brotherhood, Yusuf al-Qaradawi,Agence France-Presse reported.

Qaradawi had also praised Hitler, described the Holocaust as divine punishment, and called on Allah to take this oppressive, Jewish, Zionist band of people and kill them, down to the very last one, Gargash added.

Gargashs criticism of the Qatari network came in a letter responding to charges by the United Nations that the Saudi-led effort to shut down Al-Jazeera violates press freedom.

David Kaye, the UNs special rapporteur on freedom of expression and opinion, saidthat shutting down Al-Jazeera would be a major blow against media pluralism. The Middle East is already suffering from severe restrictions on reporting and media, he added.

But Gargash responded that Freedom of expression cannot be used to justify and shield the promotion of extremist narratives, claiming that Al Jazeera is a platform for spreading terrorist ideology.

Gargashs letter referredto the broadcasting of an infamous sermon by Sheikh Yusuf Al-Qaradawi on Al-Jazeera in 2009. Al-Qaradawi addressed his message to the aggressor Jews, those arrogant plunderers, who act arrogantly toward the servants of Allah in the land of Allah. Al-Qaradhawi referred to Jews as treacherous and cunning, while calling on Allah to kill them all. Oh Allah, take this oppressive, Jewish, Zionist band of people. Oh Allah, do not spare a single one of them. Oh Allah, count their numbers, and kill them, down to the very last one, Al-Qaradhawi said.

This is not the first time Al-Jazeera has been accused of promoting anti-Semitism. There is no doubt that anti-Semitism is woven into the fabric of Al Jazeeras Arabic reporting, Erik Nisbet, a professor of Arabic media at Ohio State University, saidin 2011. Nisbet went on to compare Al-Jazeeras reporting to an American channel giving airtime to the Ku Klux Klan.

The Canadian Radio-Television and Telecommunications Commission notedin 2004 that Al-Jazeera host Faisal Al-Qassam frequently made anti-Semitic remarks on his weekly show, with one episode titled, Is Zionism worse than Nazism. Al-Qassam referred to Jews as apes and pigs, and recommended that the U.S. get rid of its Jews. The Commission quoted Al-Qassam as saying, God will not be deterred unless there is a true holocaust that will exterminate all of [the Jews] at once.

A guest on Al-Qassams show, Saudi cleric Abdallah Bib Matruk Al-Haddal, said that the September 11th attacks were a continuation of an ancient attack. It is a continuation of the Jewish deception and the Jewish-Zionist wickedness. Al-Haddal concluded that Jewish fingerprints have infiltrated the U.S., Jewish evil and deception are those who attacked the U.S. The claim that Jews are responsible for the September 11th attacks is awidely debunked anti-Semitic conspiracy theory.

[Photo:Wochit Politics / YouTube]

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Top UAE Official Slams Qatar-Owned Al-Jazeera for Anti-Semitism - TheTower.org

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Posted By simmons on July 14, 2017

An ultra-Orthodox girls elementary school in London may be forced to close after failing to meet government standards because it does not teach about homosexuality and transgender issues.

The Vishnitz Girls School, a private elementary school in the London suburb of Stamford Hill, failed three consecutive inspections from UKs Office for Standards in Education, Childrens Services and Skills (Ofsted) according to a report released last month. Although the school received a positive review in almost every area, it failed the inspection because they do not teach pupils about all the protected characteristics, particularly those relating to gender re-assignment and sexual orientation.

The school, which has 212 pupils aged between three and eight years old, was rated as good by inspectors four years ago. But now the government may force it to close down.

According to the Ofsted report the religious values of the school mean it cannot comply with government requirements. The proprietor and leaders agreed that the schools policy on the protected characteristics meant that the school could not meet these standards, the report stated.

The schools approach means that pupils are shielded from learning about certain differences between people, such as sexual orientation, inspectors wrote. This means that pupils have a limited understanding of the different lifestyles and partnerships that individuals may choose in present-day society.

Inspectors said that the school, which caters to the local Vizhnitz hasidic community, covers all the required areas of learning for the proposed increase in age range, from three to eight years to three to 12 years.

Ofsted also acknowledged that the school showed tolerance to other cultures and value systems. The schools culture is, however, clearly focused on teaching pupils to respect everybody, regardless of beliefs and lifestyle, the report said.

Staff were praised in the report, which stated that teachers good subject knowledge and high-quality classroom resources inspire pupils with enthusiasm for learning and to achieve well.

Yet because of its failure to teach about different sexual orientations the school was threatened with closure.

Hasidic Jews try to shield themselves in many ways from modern cultures which they feel contradict the religious lifestyle they have chosen for themselves. Inspectors noted that most girls speak Yiddish as their first language.

The ultra-Orthodox community is known for strict gender separation in public events and extremely high standards of modest dress. Members of the community are urged to shun the internet and smart phones, and any discussion of sexuality is left to the family, rather than to the school.

Orthodox Jews consider homosexuality and transgenderism to be forbidden by Jewish law.

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UK Hasidic school faced with closure for not teaching LGBT - The Times of Israel

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Posted By simmons on July 14, 2017

Norman,

directed by Joseph Cedar

(R, 1 hour, 58 minutes)

Norman Oppenheimer is a guy who claims to have more inside information than you figure he can, who only wants a minute of your time to pitch you on a deal that could work out for everyone. He's a name dropper who tends to exaggerate his importance. Maybe you've listened politely to Norman, maybe you've brushed him off.

He's not a bad guy. It's just that he pushes a little too hard.

We meet Norman doing what he does. He tries to trade on the slightest connection, he ambushes captains of industry in the streets, and he is, sometimes kindly but always firmly, rebuffed.

But then he catches low-level Israeli politician Micha Eshel (Israeli actor Lior Ashkenazi) -- the deputy of a deputy minister -- at a vulnerable time.

Three years later, that politician is elected prime minister of Israel. Norman is in the crowd, clapping and smiling beatifically. Maybe that vulnerability will pay off for him.

Norman is remarkable for the gentle and precisely calibrated performances of Richard Gere, who plays (once again) against his dashing type as the deferential yet dignified would-be deal maker, and Ashkenazi, who as Eshel displays genuine affection and gratitude for Norman.

Director Cedar has crafted a bright and modest movie about ordinary people running up against their limitations. That might sound like a weak response to the superheroes on the loose this summer, but if you're looking for something a little more grown up, a little less sweet, have I got a deal for you.

With Charlotte Gainsbourg, Steve Buscemi, Michael Sheen.

Their Finest (R, 1 hour, 57 minutes) This witty, meandering, intelligent comedic drama, set in London in 1940, concerns the hiring of Catrin Cole (Gemma Arterton) to write female dialogue for morale-boosting propaganda films produced by the British government, which leads her to work on an epic feature based on the Dunkirk rescue starring former matinee idol Ambrose Hilliard (Bill Nighy). With Sam Claflin. Richard E. Grant, Jake Lacy; directed by Lone Scherfig.

The Fate of the Furious (PG-13, 2 hours, 16 minutes) The kinetic horsepower-fueled franchise returns for the eighth time, predictable as ever, with the classy addition of Charlize Theron as a coolly competent villain named Cipher and a cameo by Helen Mirren. With Vin Diesel, Dwayne Johnson, Michelle Rodriguez, Tyrese Gibson, Ludacris, Kurt Russell, Jason Statham and Scott Eastwood; directed by F. Gary Gray.

Violet (not rated, 1 hour, 25 minutes) An ambitious, quiet, and tautly focused psychological drama, set in a rural area of Belgium. A vicious attack on a teenager at a mall forces the kid's 15-year-old friend, Jesse (Cesar De Sutter), to try to come to grips with senseless trauma. Could he have prevented the violence? With Mira Helmer; directed by Bas Devos.

The Lost City of Z (PG-13, 2 hours, 21 minutes) A long-winded yet spirited and elegant portrayal of ambitious British 20th-century explorer Percy Fawcett (a fine performance by Charlie Hunnam) who, while exploring remote reaches of the lush Amazon jungle in Bolivia, encounters signs of a previously undiscovered civilization and hears rumors of a city no white man has ever seen. Based on the nonfiction book by David Grann. With Tom Holland, Sienna Miller, Robert Pattinson; directed by James Gray.

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Home Movies - Arkansas Online

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Posted By richards on July 14, 2017

Lexington Herald Leader

Counseling can help you decide whether to get genetic testing Lexington Herald Leader ... type of cancer, the age at diagnosis, multiple cancers in the same patient, clustering of breast, gastrointestinal and gynecologic malignancy in close relatives, or certain cancers arising in patient of Ashkenazi (central or eastern European ...

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Counseling can help you decide whether to get genetic testing - Lexington Herald Leader

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Posted By admin on July 14, 2017

Couples thinking about kids can be screened for genes that may cause disease in their offspring.

The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists recently recommended obstetricians, gynaecologists and other related health care providers offer pre-pregnancy carrier screening for genetic diseases to all patients.

Pre-pregnancy carrier screening involves testing healthy adults for the presence of gene mutations that cause diseases that are not present in them, but if both parents have the same recessive gene, could eventuate in their children. This includes diseases such as cystic fibrosis and muscular dystrophies.

If both partners in a couple carry the same recessive disease, then the couple have a one in four chance of a child with that disease. Carrier couples may therefore have multiple affected children. Some recessive diseases are relatively mild but others are severe, including many that cause death at or shortly after birth.

Newton Morton, one of the founders of genetic epidemiology, estimated from population data as long ago as 1956 that each of us is a carrier of three to five lethal recessive mutations and this has been confirmed by more recent research. This means we are all carriers of something, but most of us are generally unaware of our carrier status unless we have an affected child.

Historically, pre-pregnancy carrier screening programs have been tailored for specific population groups who are more likely to have a recessive disease. For example, the recessive brain condition Tay-Sachs disease, which is usually fatal in early childhood, has a high incidence in the Ashkenazi-Jewish community.

In 1969 it was discovered the loss of an enzyme (called hexosaminidase A) causes the disease. This led to the development of tests allowing carriers for Tay-Sachs disease to be identified. The first pre-pregnancy carrier screening programs in the Ashkenazi population followed in the 1970s. Since then the incidence of Tay-Sachs disease has reduced by more than 90%.

Other such targeted pre-pregnancy carrier screening programs exist in other parts of the world. For example in Mediterranean countries where there is a high rate of the recessive blood disease thalassaemia, pre-pregnancy carrier screening was offered and this also resulted in a reduction in the incidence of the disease.

Today, the country with the most comprehensive pre-pregnancy carrier screening program is Israel. It introduced a national program in 2003 and by 2015, the program was screening approximately 60,000 people annually for nearly 100 recessive conditions. The Israeli program is tailored to the different ethnic groups in the country, but also includes diseases common in all ethnic groups such as spinal muscular atrophy.

Diagnostic laboratories around the world are now using technology that can sequence multiple individuals for hundreds of disorders at once. This technology is used to diagnose many different types of genetic diseases and is more effective than standard diagnostic testing. It has also been investigated for carrier screening and can detect carriers of multiple recessive disorders.

When pre-pregnancy carrier screening programs are introduced, they reduce death and disease associated with the screened diseases. They can save families from experiencing the tragedy of a child affected by a significant genetic disease. They also reduce the burden of recessive disease within the population as a whole.

Each recessive disease is rare but there are hundreds of recessive diseases and so collectively they have wide-ranging social and economic impacts. A study of 50 severe recessive diseases found their collective incidence to be greater than that of Down syndrome (one in 600 compared to one in 1,100).

So pre-pregnancy carrier screening programs that include many genetic diseases, as now recommended by the American College, would maximise knowledge of genetic risk for couples.

When testing genes, some identified variations are definitely harmful while most are definitely harmless. But for some variations we cant be sure if they are harmful, and whether or not they will cause disease in any children.

And some mutations, called de novo mutations, arise spontaneously during the development of a child. These mutations cannot be detected by pre-pregnancy screening.

So while the risk of having an affected child is reduced by pre-pregnancy carrier screening, it is not eliminated.

There are no guarantees that pre-pregnancy screening will result in a healthy baby, but it will allow couples options to reduce the burden of disease associated with known disease-causing mutations.

Counselling is required before and after the test to explain the risks to couples.

There is little health risk from the test, no more than the risk associated with taking a blood sample. The cost may be prohibitive for many couples, though. While it depends on the number of genes screened, costs may be several hundred dollars per person.

A small number of targeted pre-pregnancy carrier screening programs have been in place in Australia for a number of years including for Ashkenazi populations, for individuals with a family history of various diseases, and in IVF clinics. In Victoria the Victorian Clinical Genetics Service offers private pre-pregnancy carrier screening.

Several Australian groups, such as the Australian Genomics Health Alliance, are researching ways to screen larger numbers of genes. It remains to be seen if Australian bodies will make similar recommendations to those in the US.

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Explainer: what is pre-pregnancy carrier screening and should potential parents consider it? - The Conversation AU

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Posted By simmons on July 14, 2017

Before we were disturbed by a dust-up among Jews about the Western Wall and conversion, we were befuddled by another delegation of ranking Americans prodding Israelis and Palestinians to sit around a table and make peace. What these worthies do not grasp is that there already is peace. It aint perfect, but its close to the best thats possible. Alongside the well-known constraints in both Palestinian and Israeli politics in the way of agreement on all the issues that would allow a celebration of formal peace, there are ample signs that both populations get along reasonably well.

In recent days, with Ramadan coming to a close and reaching a peak celebration of Eid al Fitr, there were several indications of the integration in what is described by the superficial as the divided city of Jerusalem. Our neighborhood supermarket and grocery store werent working up to snuff, because a substantial number of workers were on halftime or less, due to fasting and family gatherings. Jerusalem buses werent running on schedule, on account of a large number of Arab drivers not working full time. Should we view those inconveniences as problems we should not tolerate, or as positive signs that Arabs and Jews work alongside one another and depend on one another?

Fridays during Ramadan, and especially the last Friday of the month, were occasions for Jews to avoid the Old City. More than a hundred thousand Muslims came each Friday from throughout East Jerusalem, and on buses from the West Bank, and Gaza to pray on what Jews call the Temple Mount. In order to accommodate those prostrating themselves, much of its extent becomes part of al-Aqsa Mosque. Is this another inconvenience for Jews that should be viewed as intolerable, or as the price of sharing a city with more than two millennia of being sensitive to many?

To be sure, there remains a lack of harmony and a surplus of bitterness, memories of insults and offense, as well as daily attacks by Arabs against Jews and a few attacks of Jews against ArabsWe can compare the feelings, the violence, and fears with those of other contentious locales, including European cities with growing Muslim populations as well as multi-racial American cities.

The first objection well hear is that it isnt the same. Of course not. There are always differences in detail between settings with unique histories. The comparison of Israeli-Arab relations today (both locally and region-wide) with those that prevailed in years past will show improvements along with assertions that the improvements are superficial, and expectations that there is another uptick in violence waiting to occur.With all the cynicism that it is appropriate to direct against a peace process comes a sentiment that its a good idea. As Winston said, Jaw Jaw is better than War War.

And there are a lot of diplomats who have to be kept busy, and away from more serious problems they may make worse. Ideally, theyll focus on adjusting the pragmatic arrangements, well below anything approaching a formal peace accord, but useful in keeping tensions at a manageable level.

Its appropriate to list some of the prominent minuses and pluses of where we are in these detailed accommodations. Perhaps most prominent are the fears and tensions faced by Israelis concerned about the possibilities of violence, and the tensions felt by Palestinians and Arabs at the checkpoints, the documents required for Palestinians to enter Israel for work, medical treatment, family visits, or religious observances, the wall that meanders through the West Bank, the presence of numerous police and security personnel at points of contact between Arabs and Jews, the occasional closures of Arab neighborhoods of Jerusalem in response to violence, and the ethnic profiling that subjects Arabs to greater scrutiny than Jews.

As in other countries, not all Israeli security personnel handle their tasks with the delicacy and courtesy that would be ideal. Arabs feel constrained, and occasionally murder those among themselves who are said to be informants of Israeli security services, while Israelis endanger themselves by working with the Arabs of Israel, Palestinians, and in other Muslim societies formally closed to Israelis. Pressures brought on potential informants might not be pleasant, but are among the details of national security we do not have to discuss.

Both Jews and Arabs suffer from memories of historical injustices associated with wars that caused losses in both communities. Jews complain about budget and tax distortions, compared to other western countries, justified by expenditures on security. Arabs complain about limitations on their localities budgets and services within Israel, and occasional destruction of buildings said to be illegal in Arab towns and neighborhoods, which they say are brought about by the governments failure to provide organized planning and building permits for Arab areas.

Israeli Arabs admit to higher levels of violence among themselves than among Jews, but blame Israel for not providing police protection to their communities, while the Israeli police complain about a lack of cooperation from Arabs in identifying perpetrators. Jews complain about the lack of cooperation from Arabs with respect to the payment of taxes and compliance with a host of laws and regulations, ranging from those against polygamy to building standards and highway safety.

Jews question the wisdom of Arabs selecting uncompromising nationalists as their representatives in Knesset, and the refusal of Jerusalem Arabs to vote, and thereby use their political potential to select a third of the municipal council and to choose a mayor in the chronic competition between secular and ultra-Orthodox Jews.

High on the Jews list of complaints is the incitement coming from Arab and Palestinian politicians, distortions of history in Palestinian school books, and routine assertions of innocence and reverence paid to those who attack Jews.

The symbols of accommodation are less prominent than the tangible indications. Israeli and Palestinian flags seldom appear alongside one another. Gazans and West Bankers have their complaints against Israel, but the living standards and political opportunities in both sectors do not fall below those available in other Muslim or Third World countries. Social indicators show that Israeli Arabs live as well, and according to some indicators better than minorities in the U.S. and Europe.

Sure, the glass is only half-full, but half-full aint all that bad. We can hope that Trump et al will focus on detailed adjustments that improve things for both Israelis and Palestinians. In all probability, well have to do without the full glasses of champagne to mark the culmination of a peace process along with a ceremony of public signing and celebration.

Jews will continue quarreling among ourselves, as weve done from the get go. Yet unlike extremist Muslims or Christians obsessed with abortion or some other abomination, we havent killed one another in significant numbers on account of religious or political disputes since those wars that Josephus wrote about. Yitzhak Rabin was a significant exception. Thats something to remember, while were quarreling about whatever is in the headlines.

Comments welcome. irashark@gmail.com.

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Peace process - Heritage Florida Jewish News

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Posted By simmons on July 14, 2017

If the leaders of the Palestinian Authority (PA) had invested as much time, energy and other peoples money in building a flourishing society as they do in the pursuit of death and destruction, there would be no need for outside efforts to broker peace between them and their Israeli counterparts. It takes only about 30 minutes to drive from the Muqataa compound in Ramallah to the Prime Ministers Office in Jerusalem. Yet it is still easier for dignitaries from the United States and Europe to spend hours on flights to Tel Aviv for the purpose of talking about a two-state solution than it is for PA President Mahmoud Abbas to budge in any direction other than backwards.

Take this week, for instance, which began with the Palestinians refusal to host US Ambassador to Israel David Friedman whom USPresident Donald Trump has included in his Mideast peacemaking team, along with advisers Jason Greenblatt and Jared Kushner in Ramallah. Friedman is too pro-Israel, as far as Abbas is concerned. As a result, the meeting between American and Palestinian officials on Tuesday took place at the King David Hotel in west Jerusalem.

On Thursday, Greenblatt joined fellow envoys of the Middle East Quartet the US (which he represents), the European Union, the United Nations and Russia in Jerusalem to discuss current efforts to advance Middle East peace, as well as the deteriorating situation in Gaza.

July 14, 2017 11:10 am

Also on Thursday, Greenblatt announced that Israel had agreed to sell the PA 1.2 billion cubic feet of water. This, he said, in addition to an electricity deal reached between Israel and the PA on Monday, will improve the Palestinians standard of living.

Meanwhile, in Washington, DC on Wednesday, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee conducted a hearing on the proposed Taylor Force Act, named after the former US Army officer who, while on a trip to Israel in March 2016, was stabbed to death by a knife-wielding Palestinian on a rampage in Tel Aviv. The bill, cosponsored by Senators Lindsey Graham (R-SC), Dan Coats (R-Ind.) and Roy Blunt (R-Miss.), aims to halt American aid to the PA until it stops paying salaries and stipends to imprisoned terrorists and the families of those martyred while murdering Israelis.

Testifying before the committee on behalf of the bill, Senior Fellow for Middle Eastern Studies at the Council on Foreign Relations Elliott Abrams who served as deputy assistant to the president and deputy national security adviser in the George W. Bush administration railed against the Palestinian practice of making payments to individuals convicted of acts of terror, and their families or survivors, in accordance with the severity of their acts and the length of their sentences. The predictable effect of this practice, he said, is to reward and incentivize acts of terror.

Pointing to the billions of dollars that the US has poured into the PA since its establishment in the 1990s, Abrams said, As long as the Palestinian government is in effect rewarding terror, we need to be sure we make our objections our condemnation known, and that cannot be merely in words. Our assistance program must reflect our feeling of repugnance. He then proposed a revision to the bill that would enable the US to continue funding hospitals and other projects that benefit the Palestinian people, while preventing the money from lining the pockets of corrupt bureaucrats.

Whether this carrot-and-stick approach to the PA was purposeful or inadvertent is unclear. What is certain, however, is that the PA president is not turning over a new leaf. Earlier this month, as Palestinian Media Watch (PMW) reported, Abbas was quoted on Fatahs official Facebook page as proclaiming: Even if I have to leave my position, I will not compromise on the salary of a martyr or a prisoner, as I am the president of the entire Palestinian people, including the prisoners, the martyrs, the injured, the expelled and the uprooted.

This sentiment was echoed recently by PA Prime Minister Rami Hamdallah. Hamdallah who launched the first-ever Palestinian-owned power substation in Jenin with Israeli National Infrastructure, Energy and Water Resources Minister Yuval Steinitz on Monday, and signed the electricity deal touted by Greenblatt vowed last month to continue rewarding terrorists.

On June 16, according to PMW, the official PA newspaper quoted Hamdallah announcing: On behalf ofAbbas and our Palestinian people, I salute all of the martyrs families[and] emphasize to them that their rights are protectedWe remember the sacrifices and struggle of the pure martyrs, guardians of the land and identity, who have turned our peoples cause into a historical epic of struggle and resolve.

Hamdallahs reassurance came on the heels of US Secretary of State Rex Tillersons claim that the PAs intent is to cease the payments to the families of those who have committed murder or violence against others. Ironically, both Israeli and Palestinian officials were incensed by the statement, and Tillerson was forced to modify it. Washington and Ramallah he said the following day are engaged in an active discussion on the matter.

So far, however, all Abbas has done is call the shots on the venue of a meeting between his honchos and Trumps team, agree to water and electricity deals that benefit the PA and give the White House cause for false optimism. Undoubtedly, he has already figured out how to get around the Taylor Force Act, if and when it passes. A revised, bipartisan version of the bill, in particular geared toward guaranteeing that ordinary Palestinians are not robbed of humanitarian services as a result of their leaders violations will provide him with sufficient loopholes to keep his martyrs in clover.

Ramallah may be a mere 10 miles from Jerusalem, but it like peace is light-years away.

Ruthie Blum is an editor at the Gatestone Institute

This piece was originally published in Israel Hayom.

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Peace Is Light-Years Away - Algemeiner

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