David Kreider's Posts - iPeace.us2024-03-28T12:04:26ZDavid Kreiderhttps://ipeace.us/profile/DavidKreiderhttps://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/63679505?profile=RESIZE_48X48&width=48&height=48&crop=1%3A1https://ipeace.us/profiles/blog/feed?user=2d3us2ecx1pfi&xn_auth=noThe Universal Declaration of Human Rights - check it outtag:ipeace.us,2009-04-01:2217368:BlogPost:14307282009-04-01T02:56:43.000ZDavid Kreiderhttps://ipeace.us/profile/DavidKreider
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<br/><small><a href="http://www.ipeace.me/video/video">Find more videos like this on <em>iPeace</em></a></small><br/>Karen Armstrong calls for inter-religious Charter of Compassiontag:ipeace.us,2009-03-27:2217368:BlogPost:14062722009-03-27T03:42:43.000ZDavid Kreiderhttps://ipeace.us/profile/DavidKreider
<object width="446" height="326"><param name="movie" value="http://video.ted.com/assets/player/swf/EmbedPlayer.swf"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="false"></param><param name="wmode" value="opaque"></param><param name="bgColor" value="#ffffff"></param><param name="flashvars" value="vu=http://video.ted.com/talks/embed/KarenArmstrong_2008-embed_high.flv&su=http://images.ted.com/images/ted/tedindex/embed-posters/KarenArmstrong-2008.embed_thumbnail.jpg&vw=432&vh=240&ap=0&ti=234"></param><embed wmode="opaque" src="http://video.ted.com/assets/player/swf/EmbedPlayer.swf" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" bgcolor="#FFFFFF" width="446" height="326" flashvars="vu=http://video.ted.com/talks/embed/KarenArmstrong_2008-embed_high.flv&su=http://images.ted.com/images/ted/tedindex/embed-posters/KarenArmstrong-2008.embed_thumbnail.jpg&vw=432&vh=240&ap=0&ti=234" allowscriptaccess="never"></embed> <param name="allowscriptaccess" value="never"></param></object>
<object width="446" height="326"><param name="movie" value="http://video.ted.com/assets/player/swf/EmbedPlayer.swf"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="wmode" value="transparent"></param><param name="bgColor" value="#ffffff"></param><param name="flashvars" value="vu=http://video.ted.com/talks/embed/KarenArmstrong_2008-embed_high.flv&su=http://images.ted.com/images/ted/tedindex/embed-posters/KarenArmstrong-2008.embed_thumbnail.jpg&vw=432&vh=240&ap=0&ti=234"></param><embed src="http://video.ted.com/assets/player/swf/EmbedPlayer.swf" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" bgcolor="#FFFFFF" width="446" height="326" flashvars="vu=http://video.ted.com/talks/embed/KarenArmstrong_2008-embed_high.flv&su=http://images.ted.com/images/ted/tedindex/embed-posters/KarenArmstrong-2008.embed_thumbnail.jpg&vw=432&vh=240&ap=0&ti=234" allowscriptaccess="never"></embed><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="never"></param></object>J Street poll shows encouraging shift in US Jewish opinion in support of Palestinian-Israeli peace and a two-state solutiontag:ipeace.us,2009-03-24:2217368:BlogPost:13920142009-03-24T01:14:08.000ZDavid Kreiderhttps://ipeace.us/profile/DavidKreider
Regardless of what some on the political right may say, when it comes to Israel, American Jews:<br />
<br />
* Support President Obama's Middle East agenda,<br />
* Want strong US leadership to bring about a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and,<br />
* Understand that difficult compromises will have to made by both sides in order to achieve lasting peace and security in the region.<br />
<br />
Here are a few more interesting tidbits from the poll:<br />
<br />
* American Jews remain remarkably supportive of assertive…
Regardless of what some on the political right may say, when it comes to Israel, American Jews:<br />
<br />
* Support President Obama's Middle East agenda,<br />
* Want strong US leadership to bring about a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and,<br />
* Understand that difficult compromises will have to made by both sides in order to achieve lasting peace and security in the region.<br />
<br />
Here are a few more interesting tidbits from the poll:<br />
<br />
* American Jews remain remarkably supportive of assertive American efforts to achieve Middle East peace. The poll finds an extraordinarily strong base of 69 percent of American Jews firmly supporting active American engagement in bringing about Middle East peace, even if it means publicly disagreeing with or exerting pressure on both Arabs and Israelis, compared to 66 percent eight months ago;<br />
* 69 percent also support the U.S. working with a unified Hamas-Fatah Palestinian Authority government to achieve a peace agreement with Israel, even when informed that the U.S. does not recognize Hamas due to its status as a terrorist organization and its refusal to recognize Israel. Interestingly, a March poll conducted by the Truman Institute at Hebrew University reported that 69 percent of Israelis also think Israel should negotiate with a joint Hamas-Fatah government;<br />
* By 76-24 percent, American Jews support a two-state, final status deal between Israel and the Palestinians along the lines of the agreement nearly reached eight years ago during the Camp David and Taba talks;<br />
* On Avigdor Lieberman: When told about Lieberman's campaign platform requiring Arab citizens of Israel to sign loyalty oaths, as well as his threats against Arab Members of Knesset, American Jews opposed these positions by a 69 to 31 margin. One in three believe their own connection to Israel will be diminished if Lieberman assumes a senior position in the Israeli cabinet.<br />
* On Gaza: While Jews rallied behind Israel and approved of Israel's military action by a 3 to 1 margin, 59 percent still felt that the military action had no impact on Israel's security (41 percent) or made Israel less secure (18 percent), while only 41 percent felt it made Israel more secure.Democracy Now interview with Noam Chomsky on Obama's speech about Gazatag:ipeace.us,2009-03-14:2217368:BlogPost:13513952009-03-14T23:57:52.000ZDavid Kreiderhttps://ipeace.us/profile/DavidKreider
AMY GOODMAN: President Obama, speaking at the State Department yesterday. A Hamas spokesperson told Al Jazeera television Obama’s position toward the Palestinians doesn’t represent a change. Osama Hamdan said, “I think this is an unfortunate start for President Obama in the region and the Middle East issue. And it looks like the next four years, if it continues with the same tone, will be a total failure.”<br />
<br />
Well, for more on this, we are joined by Noam Chomsky, professor of linguistics at the…
AMY GOODMAN: President Obama, speaking at the State Department yesterday. A Hamas spokesperson told Al Jazeera television Obama’s position toward the Palestinians doesn’t represent a change. Osama Hamdan said, “I think this is an unfortunate start for President Obama in the region and the Middle East issue. And it looks like the next four years, if it continues with the same tone, will be a total failure.”<br />
<br />
Well, for more on this, we are joined by Noam Chomsky, professor of linguistics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology for over half-a-century. He has written over a hundred books, including Failed States: The Abuse of Power and the Assault on Democracy.<br />
<br />
Welcome to Democracy Now!, Noam.<br />
<br />
NOAM CHOMSKY: Glad to be with you again.<br />
<br />
AMY GOODMAN: It’s good to have you with us. Well, let’s start off by your response to President Obama’s statement and whether you think it represents a change.<br />
<br />
NOAM CHOMSKY: It’s approximately the Bush position. He began by saying that Israel, like any democracy, has a right to defend itself. That’s true, but there’s a gap in the reasoning. It has a right to defend itself. It doesn’t follow that it has a right to defend itself by force. So we might agree, say, that, you know, the British army in the United States in the colonies in 1776 had a right to defend itself from the terror of George Washington’s armies, which was quite real, but it didn’t follow they had a right to defend themselves by force, because they had no right to be here. So, yes, they had a right to defend themselves, and they had a way to do it—namely, leave. Same with the Nazis defending themselves against the terror of the partisans. They have no right to do it by force. In the case of Israel, it’s exactly the same. They have a right to defend themselves, and they can easily do it. One, in a narrow sense, they could have done it by accepting the ceasefire that Hamas proposed right before the invasion—I won’t go through the details—a ceasefire that had been in place and that Israel violated and broke.<br />
<br />
But in a broader sense—and this is a crucial omission in everything Obama said, and if you know who his advisers are, you understand why—Israel can defend itself by stopping its crimes. Gaza and the West Bank are a unit. Israel, with US backing, is carrying out constant crimes, not only in Gaza, but also in the West Bank, where it is moving systematically with US support to take over the parts of the West Bank that it wants and to leave Palestinians isolated in unviable cantons, Bantustans, as Sharon called them. Well, stop those crimes, and resistance to them will stop.<br />
<br />
Now, Israel has been able pretty much to stop resistance in the Occupied Territories, thanks in large part to the training that Obama praised by Jordan, of course with US funding and monitoring control. So, yes, they’ve managed to. They, in fact, have been suppressing demonstrations, even demonstrations, peaceful demonstrations, that called for support for the people of Gaza. They have carried out lots of arrests. In fact, they’re a collaborationist force, which supports the US and Israel in their effort to take over the West Bank.<br />
<br />
Now, that’s what Obama—if Israel—there’s no question that all of these acts are in total violation of the foundations of international humanitarian law. Israel knows it. Their own advisers have told each other—legal advisers have explained that to them back in ’67. The World Court ruled on it. So it’s all total criminality. But they want to be able to persist without any objection. And that’s the thrust of Obama’s remarks. Not a single word about US-backed Israeli crimes, settlement development, cantonization, a takeover in the West Bank. Rather, everyone should be quiet and let the United States and Israel continue with it.<br />
<br />
He spoke about the constructive steps of the peace—of the Arab peace agreement very selectively. He said they should move forward towards normalization of relations with Israel. But that wasn’t the main theme of the Arab League peace proposal. It was that there should be a two-state settlement, which the US blocks. I mean, he said some words about a two-state settlement, but not where or when or how or anything else. He said nothing about the core of the problem: the US-backed criminal activities both in Gaza, which they attacked at will, and crucially in the West Bank. That’s the core of the problem.<br />
<br />
And you can understand it when you look at his advisers. So, say, Dennis Ross wrote an 800-page book about—in which he blamed Arafat for everything that’s happening—barely mentions the word “settlement” over—which was increasing steadily during the period when he was Clinton’s adviser, in fact peaked, a sharp increase in Clinton’s last year, not a word about it.<br />
<br />
So the thrust of his remarks, Obama’s remarks, is that Israel has a right to defend itself by force, even though it has peaceful means to defend itself, that the Arabs must—states must move constructively to normalize relations with Israel, but very carefully omitting the main part of their proposal was that Israel, which is Israel and the United States, should join the overwhelming international consensus for a two-state settlement. That’s missing.<br />
<br />
AMY GOODMAN: Noam, we have to break, but we’re going to come back to this discussion. Noam Chomsky, joining us from Massachusetts, a professor of linguistics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, has written many books on the Middle East. We’ll be back with him in a moment.<br />
<br />
[break]<br />
<br />
AMY GOODMAN: Our guest is Professor Noam Chomsky, author of many books on the Middle East. Among his books are Failed States: The Abuse of Power and the Assault on Democracy, also Hegemony or Survival. Juan?<br />
<br />
JUAN GONZALEZ: Noam Chomsky, I’d like to ask you about the enormous civilian casualties that have shocked the entire world in this last Israeli offensive. The Israelis claim, on the one hand, that it’s the unfortunate result of Hamas hiding among the civilian population, but you’ve said in a recent analysis that this has been Israeli policy almost from the founding of the state, the attack on civilian populations. Could you explain?<br />
<br />
NOAM CHOMSKY: They say so. I was just quoting the chief of staff—this is thirty years ago, virtually no Palestinian terrorism in Israel, virtually. He said, “Our policy has been to attack civilians.” And the reason was explained—you know, villages, towns, so on. And it was explained by Abba Eban, the distinguished statesman, who said, “Yes, that’s what we’ve done, and we did it for a good reason. There was a rational prospect that if we attack the civilian population and cause it enough pain, they will press for a,” what he called, “a cessation of hostilities.” That’s a euphemism meaning cessation of resistance against Israel’s takeover of the—moves which were going on at the time to take over the Occupied Territories. So, sure, if they—“We’ll kill enough of them, so that they’ll press for quiet to permit us to continue what we’re doing.”<br />
<br />
Actually, you know, Obama today didn’t put it in those words, but the meaning is approximately the same. That’s the meaning of his silence over the core issue of settling and takeover of the Occupied Territories and eliminating the possibility for any Palestinian meaningful independence, omission of this. But Eban [inaudible], who I was quoting, chief of staff, would have also said, you know, “And my heart bleeds for the civilians who are suffering. But what can we do? We have to pursue the rational prospect that if we cause them enough pain, they’ll call off any opposition to our takeover of their lands and resources.” But it was—I mean, I was just quoting it. They said it very frankly. That was thirty years ago, and there’s plenty more beside that.<br />
<br />
JUAN GONZALEZ: And Obama’s call to open up Gaza, to end the blockade of Gaza on the Israelis, do you see that as any kind of a meaningful turn?<br />
<br />
NOAM CHOMSKY: It would—those are nice words. And if he did it, that would be fine. But there isn’t any indication that he means it. In fact, this morning on the—Israel has already made it clear, stated explicitly, its foreign minister Tzipi Livni, that they’re not going to live up to the ceasefire until Gaza returns to them a captured soldier. Well, that avoids the fact that Israel is far in the lead, not in capturing soldiers, but in kidnapping civilians, hijacking ships, bringing them to Israel as hostages. In fact, one day before this Israeli soldier was captured at the border, Israeli forces entered Gaza and kidnapped two civilians and took them to Israel, where they were hidden away in the prison system sometime. So, and in fact, according to reports I just received from Israel—I can’t give you a source—they say that the radio news this morning has been reporting steadily that Amos Gilad, who’s the go-between between Israel and Egypt, notified the Egyptians that Israel is not interested in a ceasefire agreement, but rather an arrangement to stop the missiles and to free Gilad Shalit. OK, I presume that will be in the newspapers later. So, yes, it’s nice to say, “Let’s open the borders,” but not avoiding the conditions that are imposed, in fact, not even mentioning the fact that the borders have been closed for years because the United States has backed Israeli closure of them.<br />
<br />
And again, his main point, which he started with, Israel, like any democracy, has a right to defend itself. That is true, but deceitful, because it has a right to defend itself, but not by force, especially when there are peaceful options that are completely open, the narrow one being a ceasefire, which the US and Israel would observe for the first time, and the second and the deeper one, by ending the crimes in the Occupied Territories.<br />
<br />
AMY GOODMAN: Noam Chomsky, the timing of all of this—can you talk about Election Day here in the United States, November 4th, what exactly happened there, and then the fact that it went from Election Day to three days before the inauguration of Barack Obama, Israel’s announcement of the unilateral ceasefire?<br />
<br />
NOAM CHOMSKY: On Election Day, November 4th, Israel violated—violently violated a ceasefire that had held, free will, in fact, a sharp reduction in rockets, probably not even from Hamas. It had been established in June or July. On November 4th, Election Day, presumably because the attention was shifted elsewhere, Israeli forces entered Gaza, killed half a dozen, what they call, militants, and the pretext was they found a tunnel in Gaza. Well, you know, from a military point of view, that’s an absurdity. If there was a tunnel and if it ever reached the Israeli border, they’d stop it right there. So this was obviously just a way to break the ceasefire, kill a couple of Hamas militants and ensure that the conflict would go on.<br />
<br />
As for the bombing, it was very carefully timed. And, in fact, they’ve told us this. They’ve told us it was meticulously timed for months before the invasion, a very target-selected timing, everything. It began on a Saturday, timed at right before noon, when children were leaving schools, people milling in the streets of the densely populated city, perhaps the most densely in the world. That’s when it began. They killed a couple hundred people in the first few minutes.<br />
<br />
And it ended—it was timed to end right before the inauguration. Now, presumably the reason was—Obama had kept silent about the atrocities and the killings, a horrible, horrible story, which you can see on Al Jazeera and little bits of it here. He had kept silent on the pretext that there’s only one president. Well, on Inauguration Day, that goes. There’s two—there’s a new president. And Israel surely wanted to make it—to ensure that he would not be in a position where he would have to say something about the ongoing atrocities. So they terminated it, probably temporarily, right before the inauguration. And then he could go on with what we heard today.<br />
<br />
AMY GOODMAN: Noam Chomsky, I want to turn for a second to George Mitchell, who President Obama has tapped as the special envoy to the Middle East. Mitchell is the retired Senate majority leader, best known for helping to broker Northern Ireland’s landmark Good Friday Agreement in 1998, which ended decades of bloody conflict. In 2000, Mitchell was appointed by former president Bill Clinton to head a committee investigating ongoing Israeli-Palestinian violence. Sallai Meridor, Israel’s ambassador to Washington, welcomed Obama’s appointment of Mitchell, saying Israel holds him in, quote, "high regard.” This is some of what George Mitchell had to say yesterday.<br />
<br />
GEORGE MITCHELL: The Secretary of State has just talked about our long-term objective, and the President himself has said that his administration—and I quote—“will make a sustained push, working with Israelis and Palestinians to achieve the goal of two states: a Jewish state in Israel and a Palestinian state living side by side in peace and security.”<br />
<br />
This effort must be determined, persevering and patient. It must be backed up by political capital, economic resources, and focused attention at the highest levels of our government. And it must be firmly rooted in a shared vision of a peaceful future by the people who live in the region. At the direction of the President and the Secretary of State, and in pursuit of the President’s policies, I pledge my full effort in the search for peace and stability in the Middle East.<br />
<br />
<br />
AMY GOODMAN: Obama’s new Middle East envoy, former senator George Mitchell. Noam Chomsky, your response?<br />
<br />
NOAM CHOMSKY: In Ireland, Mitchell did quite a commendable job. But notice that in Ireland, there was an objective, and he helped realize that objective: peaceful reconciliation. Britain took into account for the first time the grievances of the population, and the terror stopped. OK? And the terror was quite real.<br />
<br />
In Israel, again, you have to look at what he avoided. He says, “Yes, we want to have a Palestinian state.” Where? OK? He said not a word about—lots of pleasantries about everyone should live in peace, and so on, but where is the Palestinian state? Nothing said about the US-backed actions continuing every day, which are undermining any possibility for a viable Palestinian state: the takeover of the territory; the annexation wall, which is what it is; the takeover of the Jordan Valley; the salients that cut through the West Bank and effectively trisect it; the hundreds of mostly arbitrary checkpoints designed to make Palestinian life impossible—all going on, not a word about them.<br />
<br />
So, OK, we can have—in fact, you know, the first Israeli government to talk about a Palestinian state, to even mention the words, was the ultra right-wing Netanyahu government that came in 1996. They were asked, “Could Palestinians have a state?” Peres, who had preceded them, said, “No, never.” And Netanyahu’s spokesman said, “Yeah, the fragments of territory that we leave to them, they can call it a state if they want. Or they can call it fried chicken.” Well, that’s basically the attitude.<br />
<br />
And Mitchell had nothing to say about it. He carefully avoided what he knows for certain is the core problem: the illegal, totally illegal, the criminal US-backed actions, which are systematically taking over the West Bank, just as they did under Clinton, and are undermining the possibility for a viable state.<br />
<br />
JUAN GONZALEZ: Noam Chomsky, for Americans who want to figure out how to move now with the new Obama administration to end these atrocities that are occurring in the Middle East, what do you suggest? And also, what’s your viewpoint of the divestment movement? Many young people are urging something similar to South Africa, to begin pressing increasingly for divestment from Israel.<br />
<br />
NOAM CHOMSKY: The position that people who are interested in peace ought to take is very straightforward. I mean, a majority of the American population, considerable majority, already agree with the full Arab League peace plan, not the little sliver of it that Obama mentioned. The peace plan calls for a two-state settlement on the international border, maybe with minor modifications. That’s an overwhelming national consensus. The Hamas supports it. Iran has said, you know, they’ll go along with it.<br />
<br />
AMY GOODMAN: Noam, we only have thirty seconds.<br />
<br />
NOAM CHOMSKY: OK, so we should push for that.<br />
<br />
Is divestment a proper tactic? Well, you know, if you look back at South Africa, divestment became a proper tactic after years, decades of education and organizing, to the point where Congress was legislating against trade, corporations were pulling out, and so on. That’s what’s missing: the education and organizing which makes it an understandable move. And, in fact, if we ever got to that point, you wouldn’t even need it, because the US could be brought in line with international opinion.<br />
<br />
AMY GOODMAN: Noam Chomsky, we want to thank you very much for being with us. And from all of us at Democracy Now!, condolences on the death of Carol, your wife of more than half a century.<br />
<br />
NOAM CHOMSKY: Thank you.<br />
<br />
AMY GOODMAN: Thanks, Noam. Noam Chomsky, professor of linguistics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.To "Many Faiths, One Goal" - common spiritual and moral ground for peace and lovetag:ipeace.us,2009-03-13:2217368:BlogPost:13460072009-03-13T15:06:32.000ZDavid Kreiderhttps://ipeace.us/profile/DavidKreider
I am fascinated by the power in our human spirituality for peace as we recognize the common moral and spiritual ground that exists in our respective faith traditions and teachings. We are, as human beings, bound together by an innate "need" to understand the meaning of our existence. I believe this was by design of our "Creator." In this quest we are thrust together into discourse, and we are interdependent. Furthermore it orients us toward a common goal. Coming from a Christian peace…
I am fascinated by the power in our human spirituality for peace as we recognize the common moral and spiritual ground that exists in our respective faith traditions and teachings. We are, as human beings, bound together by an innate "need" to understand the meaning of our existence. I believe this was by design of our "Creator." In this quest we are thrust together into discourse, and we are interdependent. Furthermore it orients us toward a common goal. Coming from a Christian peace tradition, what I have to offer below comes from that perspective. As I have been in several interfaith dialogue groups I know the Quran, in its reverence for the Hebrew prophets and for the teachings of Jesus, also echos the scriptures I have listed below. But I will leave that to those of you who know them better to add them to our conversation. I am intrigued by the fact that Muslims like Ghaffar Khan have built a nonviolent movement based on the teachings of the Quran; and Gandhi and Martin Luther King jr likewise based on the teachings of Jesus, all of which grow from their Abrahamic roots in Judaism. Our faith offers many resources for peacebuilding which we must gather and apply to intervene in the conflicts we face together.<br />
<br />
Thank you for beginning this conversation, Sabriyah! You have written wonderful words of inspiration for peace! I look forward very much to what will grow from this, and to adding to what is here.. this is just a beginning!<br />
<br />
Asalaamaleikum~peace~shalom<br />
<br />
<br />
‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’<br />
This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor<br />
as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”<br />
Matthew 22:37-40<br />
<br />
“Do not let the foreigner joined to the Lord say ‘The Lord will surely separate me from his people.’ …The foreigners who join themselves to the Lord, to minister to him, to love the name of the Lord, and to be his servants, all who keep the Sabbath and do not profane it, and hold fast my covenant – these I will bring to my holy mountain, and make them joyful in my house of prayer; and their offerings and their sacrifices will be accepted on my altar; for my house shall be called a house of prayer for all peoples. Thus says the Lord God, who gathers the outcasts of Israel, I will gather others to them besides those already gathered.” Isaiah 56:3,6-8 and quoted by Jesus in Mark 11:17<br />
<br />
I give you a new commandment that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another. John 13:34-35<br />
<br />
You have heard that it was said ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, Love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who abuse and persecute you; so that you may be children of your Father in heaven. Matthew 5:43-45<br />
<br />
“Finally, all of you, have unity of spirit, sympathy, love for one another,a tender heart, and a humble mind. Do not repay evil for evil or abuse for abuse; but on the contrary, repay with a blessing. It is for this you were called - ..For those who desire life, and to see good days…let them turn from evil and do good; let them seek peace and pursue it.” I Peter 3:8-9,11<br />
<br />
“You have heard that it was said, ‘An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth’ But I say to you, do not resist an evildoer. But if anyone strikes you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also; and if anyone wants to sue you for your coat, give him [your cloak-the rest of your clothes] also; and if anyone forces you to go one mile, go with him a second mile also..” Matthew 5:38-41<br />
<br />
“So then remember, that at one time you Gentiles… being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers to the covenants of God’s promises, were without [Jesus as well], having no hope in the knowledge of God. But now through Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by his sacrifice. For he is our peace; uniting both groups [Jews and non-Jews, all humanity] into one and has broken down the dividing wall, that is the hostility between us. He has abolished the law with its commandments and ordinances, that he might create in himself one new humanity in place of the two thus making peace, and might reconcile both groups to God in one body... So he came and proclaimed peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near; for through him all of us have access through the same Spirit to God. So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but… members of the household of God, built on the foundation [of the prophets and these witnesses, and Jesus] who is the cornerstone. In him the whole structure comes together and forms a holy temple of which you are a part, [spiritually the living dwelling place of God].” Ephesians 2:13-22<br />
<br />
“All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Jesus, and has given to us the ministry of reconciliation; that is in Jesus, God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting the message of reconciliation to us. So we are ambassadors for Christ, since God is making his appeal through us.” I Corinthians 5:16-20<br />
<br />
Then Peter came and said to Jesus, “Lord if a person sins against me, how often should I forgive? As many as seven times?” Jesus said to him, “Not seven times, but seventy times seven.” Matthew 18:21-22<br />
<br />
‘The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives, and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.” Isaiah 61:1-2 and qouted in Luke 4:18<br />
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“Is not this the fast that I choose: to loose the bonds of injustice, to undo the thongs of the yoke, to let the oppressed go free, and to break every yoke? Is it not to share your bread with the hungry, and bring the homeless poor into your house; when you see the naked, to cover them, and not to hide yourself from your own kin?” Isaiah 58:5-7A Jewish voice against Israel's brutal attack on Gaza: Sir Gerald Kaufman, British Member of Parliament, Jan 15, 2009tag:ipeace.us,2009-03-13:2217368:BlogPost:13437122009-03-13T03:06:03.000ZDavid Kreiderhttps://ipeace.us/profile/DavidKreider
"I was brought up as an orthodox Jew and a Zionist. On a shelf in our kitchen, there was a tin box for the Jewish National Fund, into which we put coins to help the pioneers building a Jewish presence in Palestine.<br />
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I first went to Israel in 1961 and I have been there since more times than I can count. I had family in Israel and have friends in Israel. One of them fought in the wars of 1956, 1967 and 1973 and was wounded in two of them. The tie clip that I am wearing is made from a campaign…
"I was brought up as an orthodox Jew and a Zionist. On a shelf in our kitchen, there was a tin box for the Jewish National Fund, into which we put coins to help the pioneers building a Jewish presence in Palestine.<br />
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I first went to Israel in 1961 and I have been there since more times than I can count. I had family in Israel and have friends in Israel. One of them fought in the wars of 1956, 1967 and 1973 and was wounded in two of them. The tie clip that I am wearing is made from a campaign decoration awarded to him, which he presented to me.<br />
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I have known most of the Prime Ministers of Israel, starting with the founding Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion. Golda Meir was my friend, as was Yigal Allon, Deputy Prime Minister, who, as a general, won the Negev for Israel in the 1948 war of independence.<br />
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My parents came to Britain as refugees from Poland. Most of their families were subsequently murdered by the Nazis in the holocaust. My grandmother was ill in bed when the Nazis came to her home town of Staszow. A German soldier shot her dead in her bed. My grandmother did not die to provide cover for Israeli soldiers murdering Palestinian grandmothers in Gaza. The current Israeli government ruthlessly and cynically exploits the continuing guilt among Gentiles over the slaughter of Jews in the holocaust as justification for their murder of Palestinians. The implication is that Jewish lives are precious, but the lives o f Palestinians do not count.<br />
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On Sky News a few days ago, the spokeswoman for the Israeli army, Major Leibovich, was asked about the Israeli killing of, at that time, 800 Palestinians-the total is now 1,000. She replied instantly that "500 of them were militants." That was the reply of a Nazi. I suppose that the Jews fighting for their lives in the Warsaw ghetto could have been dismissed as militants.<br />
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The Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni asserts that her government will have no dealings with Hamas, because they are terrorists. Tzipi Livni's father was Eitan Livni, chief operations officer of the terrorist Irgun Zvai Leumi, who organized the blowing-up of the King David hotel in Jerusalem, in which 91 victims were killed, including four Jews.<br />
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Israel was born out of Jewish terrorism. Jewish terrorists hanged two British sergeants and booby-trapped their corpses. Irgun, together with the terrorist Stern gang, massacred 254 Palestinians in 1948 in the village of Deir Yassin. Today, the present Israeli government indicates that they would be willing, in circumstances acceptable to them, to negotiate with the Palestinian President Abbas of Fatah. It is too late for that. They could have negotiated with Fatah's previous leader, Yasser Arafat, who was a friend of mine. Instead, they besieged him in a bunker in Ramallah, where I visited him. Because of the failings of Fatah since Arafat's death, Hamas won the Palestinian election in 2006. Hamas is a deeply nasty organization, but it was democratically elected, and it is the only game in town. The boycotting of Hamas, including by our government, has been a culpable error, from which dreadful consequences have followed.<br />
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The great Israeli Foreign Minister Abba Eban, with whom I campaigned for peace on many platforms, said: "You make peace by talking to your enemies."<br />
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However many Palestinians the Israelis murder in Gaza, they cannot solve this existential problem by military means. Whenever and however the fighting ends, there will still be 1.5 million Palestinians in Gaza and 2.5 million more Palestinians on the West Bank. They are treated like dirt by the Israelis, with hundreds of road blocks and with the ghastly denizens of the illegal Jewish settlements harassing them as well. The time will come, not so long from now, when they will outnumber the Jewish population in Israel.<br />
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It is time for our government to make clear to the Israeli government that their conduct and policies are unacceptable, and to impose a total arms ban on Israel. It is time for peace, but real peace, not the solution by conquest which is the Israelis' real goal but which it is impossible for them to achieve. They are not simply war criminals; they are fools.