2015 News

Arik Ascherman, who heads Rabbis for Human Rights, invokes texts that call for tolerance. For years he has worked to protect the Palestinian olive harvest from Israeli attacks.

The tortured relationship between Barack and Bibi, as they call each other, has been a story of crossed signals, misunderstandings, slights perceived and real.

More and more people are seeing the oppression of the Palestinians and the denial of their rights as deeply resonant with what they fight against here in the United States. This is particularly true of the black community.

"You have a lot of evidence that you are not a human being," "... all the time as a Palestinian you feel that they want you out of the city. It's killing us from inside all the time."

Palestinians are convinced that Israel plans on usurping Al-Aqsa.

Until the Israeli government takes crystal clear action, such as closing the Temple Mount to Jews for a cooling-off period, there is no chance that the Palestinians' state of mind will change. If it doesn't change, this peculiar intifada will continue.

The question is where was the precise location of two ancient Jewish temples.

It is an irony of history that the same Germany that had set out to exterminate one group of "Semites," the Jews, is now laying out the welcome mat for another Semitic group, the Arabs.

More than 1,000 Black activists, scholars and organizations have released a statement of solidarity with Palestine against Israeli oppression. The statement, published online at Ebony.com, marks an important milestone for international solidarity.

The old dream of a Semitic union still has a chance - a political and economic union similar to the EU.

"The Netanyahu government decided early on to adopt a one-state solution & but without giving them [the Palestinians] equal rights." Carter accused Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of having pursued a policy of annexing and colonizing Palestinian land.

The Catholic Church called for an Israeli far-right leader to be indicted for encouraging his followers to burn down churches in Israel.

Israeli President Reuven Rivlin has proposed the establishment of an Israeli-Palestinian "confederation" as a means of settling the perennial Middle East conflict.

The so-called one-state solution is gaining support among desperate Palestinians and Israelis. In reality, the one-state situation already exists. Stretching from the Mediterranean Sea to the Jordan River is one state, or one autonomous authority, which is totally dependent in all the aspects of its development on Israel.

Reuven Rivlin, Israel's president, has complained to the police about a wave of online abuse and threats from Jewish extremists after he condemned the murder of a Palestinian toddler in an arson attack.

The case has raised issues of credibility and accountability in the military, whose conduct recently came under scrutiny in a United Nations report on last year's war against the militant Islamist group Hamas in the Gaza Strip.

Its central achievement was to reduce Iran's existing stockpile of nuclear fuel and its capacity to produce new fuel to a level that would ensure it would take at least a year for Iran to manufacture enough fuel for an atomic weapon if it chose to violate the accord.

Both sides committed to a series of steps which will last for six months, while a more conclusive deal is negotiated.

In boardrooms and campuses, on social media and in celebrity circles, momentum seems to be growing for a global pressure campaign on Israel. The atmosphere recalls the boycotts that helped demolish apartheid South Africa a quarter century ago.

The Vatican gave Palestine three gifts, it recognized Palestine, thereby making the state of Palestine. The Vatican also ameliorated years of struggle by Palestinians by canonizing two Palestinian nuns. On the day the nuns were proclaimed saints, Pope Francis referred to the leader of the Palestine, an "angel of peace."

Such a decision would encourage international boycotts of Israel and challenges to its legitimacy. Israel's status as a democracy would be widely questioned, and America's unconditional friendship and support would inevitably be eroded. These circumstances would be far more likely to change Israel's policies than any of the present strategies.

The birthplace of Christianity and home to the first Christian (lest we forget Jesus Christ), Palestine comprises some of the oldest Christian communities in the world. Our Christian population is an integral part of our fabric and collective struggle in face of the Israeli occupation, and this canonization highlights the prominent and essential feature of the Palestinian Christian community.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mIzcK7xaj-I

ISRAEL started addressing complaints, in order to make them irrelevant by the time FIFA convenes at the end of the month. Thus, it was decided to ease the travel of players between Gaza and the West Bank, and to permit the arrival of teams from Iraq, Bahrain and Malaysia in the coming weeks.

"The fact that Mariam (Maria) and Marie (Mary) Alphonsine, the first modern Palestinian saints, are both Arabs is a sign of hope for Palestine."

The clashes between Ethiopian-Israeli protesters and police over the weekend have drawn international attention to one of the most disadvantaged groups in Israel.

The Free Muslims Coalition has joined other Muslim organizations to hold a fundraiser in support of our Christian brothers and sisters who have sought refuge in the compassionate country of Jordan.

Rivlin has indeed already surprised the Israeli public. A lifelong Likudnik who has opposed the two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Rivlin has emerged as Israel's most prominent critic of racism against Arabs.

Two weeks ahead of Israel's general elections, the leader of the Joint (Arab) List, Ayman Odeh, was upbeat. Energized by positive polls, the leader of the Joint List speaks about discrimination against Palestinians, security and the right of Jews to self-determination.

Knesset Speaker Reuven Rivlin referred to a political solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. "I would prefer for the Palestinians to be citizens of this country," he said, "rather than divide the land."

In exclusive interview, ex-Mossad chief Meir Dagan says he agrees with prime minister on threat posed by nuclear Iran, but warns Netanyahu 'is single-handedly motivating the Americans into rushing to reach an agreement.'

It has been four years now that the New City has been trying to get the approval of the authorities in Israel to supply the city with water.

The Separation Wall, roadblocks, checkpoints and other Israeli 'security measures' further restrict Palestinian communities' access to water resources and filling points. Meanwhile Israeli settlers living in the same territory are supplied with an abundance of water; the consumption of more than 500,000 Israeli settlers in the West Bank is about six times higher than that of 2.6 million Palestinians in the West Bank.

Although the motives for the murder were not immediately confirmed, the slaughter has all the earmarks of another anti-Muslim racist attack. Both of the murdered women wore Hijabs and traditional women's Muslim scarves and clothing.

Kamal Nawash, President of the Free Muslims Coalition, argues that posing naked isn't necessarily the best way to support women's rights.

"In addition to degrading and objectifying women, posing naked may actually be counterproductive to supporting women's rights. Those opposing equality for women, will just point to the naked women and argue to the parents of the nation that it is their traditional values that prevent their daughters from being degraded and objectified as women," he said. "This will be a powerful argument because most parents do not want to see their daughters posing naked."

While King Abdullah is a trusted friend, Jordan has been best able to serve its own and America's interests by staying out of wars.

In light of the barbaric action of the Islamic State and other extremist groups, the Free Muslims Coalition is eager to announce that members of the newly formed Muslim & Christian Coalition (MCC) convened for an Interreligious Summit and agreed to hold their first international conference in Washington D.C. on May 1 & 2 of 2015 to formulate a strategy for protecting and preserve Christians and other minorities in the Middle East.

The question is not whether the term 'apartheid' applies to Israel; it does.

A young Israeli soldier bluntly recounts the orders from above. "They never said, 'Leave no one alive,' but they said, 'Show no mercy,' ". "The brigade commander said to kill as many as possible." Another recalls encountering Arabs on rooftops. "They're civilians - should I kill them or not?" he asks himself. "I didn't even think about it. Just kill! Kill everyone you see."

The United States joined Israel in condemning the International Criminal Court decision to open a preliminary probe Friday into possible war crimes committed against Palestinians.

Prosecutors at the International Criminal Court opened a preliminary examination on Friday into possible war crimes committed by Israel against the Palestinians.

The Palestinians hope to see Israel brought to account for actions including several episodes during the summer war in the Gaza Strip resulting in Palestinian civilian deaths, and for Jewish settlement-building activity in the West Bank, the heartland of what Palestinians view as their future state.

Kamal Nawash, a lawyer and founder of the anti-terrorism organization Free Muslims Coalition, said the media and leading entertainment and comedy industry figures need to stand boldly for free speech

Among those who support two states, 66% of them said they would support one state if two states were not possible. In addition: "If a two-state solution is not possible, 71% of Americans (84% of Democrats, 60% of Republicans) favour a single democratic state with Arabs and Jews as equal over a one in which Israel's Jewish majority is sustained and Palestinians will not have equal citizenship."

A senior British MP, who tabled a motion in parliament that called for the state of Palestine to be recognised, has said the only solution now will be to create a single state of both Israel and Palestine and put an end to what he describes as "Apartheid" and "ethnic cleansing".

This industry feeds the current international consensus on the two-state solution as the only "comprehensive" settlement to the conflict. But there's a better solution, one that's slowly picking up steam among Palestinians and Israelis: a one-state model.