Featured Blog Posts – January 2009 Archive (61)

You may say I'm a dreamer. or what kind of iPeace we want.

I received a message from Stephanie:

David

If anyone is on our minds these days.....guess who it is.

Why don't you keep an online journal to let us know how YOU are doing.

We are all curious to know. You work miracles, keep us going and growing.

And you??

Hmm..

Why not? 85 messages in iPeace and same amount of emails can…

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Added by David Califa on January 9, 2009 at 11:56am — 52 Comments

"MAGNETIC" - that's iPeace

IPeace is filled these weeks with an emotion-packed array of blogs and essays moving our souls from feeling despair from hurtful truths, to hope, to laughter-filled lightheartedness, and once again to front page headlines that pull us down, and then again to hopeful insights. Extraordinary and sensitive experts, writers, artists, human beings from every angle of the earth find themselves glaring onto screens to find things they didn't think they could ever expect to find, right in the comfort… Continue

Added by Stephanie on January 9, 2009 at 10:00am — 6 Comments

a letter to my friend miguel from spain, after he sent me a video from gaza

Dear Miguel,

I watched the video you sent me with great horror.

It is indeed shocking and heart breaking to see the suffering of these poor people in aGaza. My heart goes out to them!!

But…

I watch horrified as well as I see the world, cynical and hypocritical, pointing its finger at Israel without placing the blame fairly on the shoulders of both sides.

Israel has made many mistakes, I write that in my letter and I have always said it. I am the… Continue

Added by Achinoam Nini/Noa on January 7, 2009 at 11:13pm — 11 Comments

changes to my original letter to my palestinian brothers

hello all.

i have made some changes to my original letter, following some comments i have heard. thank you to all of you for you compassion and insight.

i am sorry if i have offended anyone and hope some of you see through the wall of tears to my deepest intentions, which are for a better life for all of us, through dialogue and compromise, not war.

sincerely,

noa

Dear Palestinian brothers,

It is with a heavy heart I write to you… Continue

Added by Achinoam Nini/Noa on January 7, 2009 at 10:57am — 6 Comments

He's only ONE MAN

Remember

when you or I write something here, David, the "Father of iPeace", is only ONE man. The opportunity he has given us to meet, discuss, compare, divide, agree, disagree, get together, fall apart, enjoy, smile, cry, worry, right here, meaning all over the globe is a huge gift, perhaps for many, the best thing that has happened to them in years, or ever.

We have to remember, he is only one person, and at times it can be a huge job taking care of all… Continue

Added by Stephanie on January 7, 2009 at 10:18am — 1 Comment

RESPONSE TO NOA'S LETTER

SHALOM TO ALL THE BEAUTIFUL ISRAELIANS AND ARABS SUFFERING THE ONGOING WAR ANXIETY.

This is my answer to Noa’s soulful letter.

We need to insist as citizens of the world on non-violent solutions to these conflicts, is the Destruction of Hamas the answer? It will inevitably create more hatred through-out the zone.

I am surprised and blessed to read all the comments from the IPeace members, their depth and intelligence is amazing, but we need to be more… Continue

Added by ELIZABETH on January 7, 2009 at 5:53am — 8 Comments

A note about unfairness,,,

There's a great deal of misunderstanding of the 100 years old Israeli Palestinian conflict. There's a great deal of disinformation about it in iPeace today. And there's a great deal of manipulation end exploitation of the situation, some of it very cynical.

Here's part of a message I and 45 others received yesterday:

"Israel is the attacker since centuries ago - Jews dont have a land and thats a fact. and they have made protocols and through them have prepared… Continue

Added by David Califa on January 6, 2009 at 11:00pm — 61 Comments

Thoughts from my blog

It took me 10 days of extreme anguish, some sleepless nights and terrible back pains to figure out where I stand with regard to the war in Gaza. I have been exposed to Israeli television, Internet and radio, to CNN and Fox, and to "The Real News," whom to those who never heard of it, I'll say it is a non-profit left-wing American web site whose accuracy in reporting the news matches that of Fox News, only from the other political slant.

I oppose the Israeli incursion into Gaza. But among… Continue

Added by Amit on January 6, 2009 at 9:42pm — 3 Comments

The Philosophy of Community

1. INCLUSIVITY

- Everyone who wishes to be is included in our community; there are no a priori conditions for involvement or participation

- There is no a priori ideology on issues; every social and professional class of people is included, regardless of background or ideology

2. DIVERSITY

- Humanity is highly diverse, in innumerable ways

- We embrace diversity, and see in it a source of strength and vitality

- We respect the differences between human beings;… Continue

Added by Bruce Schuman on January 6, 2009 at 1:00am — 6 Comments

"Syria: Peace is Impossible" reflections on the future of Middle East peacebuilding by Dr. Marc Gopin

This article was published January 4th, 2009 on www.marcgopin.com

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This report in from Sami Moubayed in Damascus. Moubayed speaks with great authority for the official mood in Syria. This… Continue

Added by Marc Gopin on January 5, 2009 at 6:30pm — 2 Comments

Where Are Burma's Monks?

For much of late September, the road to the eastern gateway of Rangoon's revered Shwedagon pagoda was a sea of maroon and saffron robes, as hundreds of Buddhist monks gathered to march in protest against Burma's military government.

Now, two weeks after the junta brutally cracked down on the pro-democracy demonstrations, the small monasteries that line both sides of the road are mostly locked and empty, while wooden barricades and bales of rusted… Continue

Added by Candle4Burma on January 4, 2009 at 10:00pm — No Comments

HEARTS CAN CHANGE.. MINE DID

This video BLOG was shot mostly in NYC (Astoria, Queens). A place on earth where members from all races, colors & creeds have managed to live together in beautiful peace. I lived there for 8 years and while there learned how UNIMPORTANT it is to agree with those whose beliefs are different. The need to agree is selfish and narrow minded. Accepting those with opposing beliefs is the sign that what we believe is healthy.

I started this song, "ON OUR WAY BACK HOME" in… Continue

Added by SMILE if you love PEACE on January 4, 2009 at 9:00pm — 17 Comments

"peace" is knocking on our door, shouldnt we open

Peace is not just a word, peace is not just a sound, peace is not just a dream, peace is a world, is a concept, is an entity and he needs a space to be experienced by us humans, to become presence.

The word peace (shalom) in Hebrew is based on the root "Whole" (shalem). It can be viewed also as the numeral 1 (one). If you divide one to as many parts as you wish they will all be carrying the number 1 as their common denominator.

As long as humans won't accept their identity… Continue

Added by Eran Eisen on January 4, 2009 at 8:56pm — 6 Comments

From Tel Aviv

Last year on my birthday, Benazir Bhutto was assassinated in Pakistan. This year on my birthday, the Israeli Air Force (IAF) began bombing targets in Gaza to stop the rain of rockets falling on Southern Israel since the end of the ceasefire with Hamas on December 19. I wonder what next year's birthday will bring.

Technically, it is arguable that the incursion into Gaza can be called a war, as it is not a conflict between two countries but rather one country and a political-military… Continue

Added by Heidi Basch on January 4, 2009 at 7:02pm — 85 Comments

On freedom of speech, emotionally driven personal attacks, and horror visuals.

iPeace prides itself on being a free space for sharing ideas, opinions and information.

But we have and uphold certain standards. We will not allow posting of explicit horror images of war. We don't need to see it to realize that war is horrific.

We understand also that emotions in these days are running high. But we will not tolerate personal attacks between members.

We ask you to help us in keeping the iPeace space civilized and report to… Continue

Added by David Califa on January 4, 2009 at 3:00pm — 12 Comments

Words should not be the weapons that they are

I have been exploring iPeace, 'meeting' people, reading blogs, joining groups and I see a lot of good happening here. It has raised my spirits to see the peace movement joining virtually and globally like this. It has also added more purpose to my new year. But, I am also seeing some disturbing comments and posts popping up, where it seems like the world's wars are being waged in words. They can hurt mighty bad, like swords, you know. I was struck by a comment left on my first post and followed… Continue

Added by janflora on January 4, 2009 at 7:00am — 2 Comments

9 Steps to Peace for Obama in the New Year

9 Steps to Peace for Obama in the New Year

2 January 2009

by Deepak Chopra, Tikkun, 1 Jan 2009.

The following is a memo to Barack Obama from Deepak Chopra:

Deepak Chopra

PEACE

You have been elected by the first anti-war constituency since 1952, when Dwight D. Eisenhower was elected after promising to end the Korean War. But ending a war isn’t… Continue

Added by Jean on January 3, 2009 at 6:00am — 58 Comments

iPeace day in Ladakh

the 31 decembre was the iPeace day, and I really wanted to do something.. I am in Ladakh in this time ,so I started to ask to the people I meet what they thought if I organised a morning prayers for Peace in the main temple of Leh the capitale........They seemed to like this idea so I decided to goes on.The begining was not quite encouraging untill I found the right personns the president of thre Tibetan cometee and the President of the buddhist association of Ladakh.After one week everything… Continue

Added by FRANCOISE on January 2, 2009 at 10:30am — 1 Comment

NEW YEARS EVOLUTION

Kay, it’s that time of year when we all are thinking about how we're supposed to be making a bunch of stinking New Years resolutions that we’re never going to keep and that are just going to make us feel bad about ourselves for the next year.

Well my first New Years Evolution is to stop feeling bad about myself for any of my shortcomings - just let that go. But first I have to do a very un-male thing and accept that I actually have a… Continue

Added by Velcrow Ripper on January 2, 2009 at 4:00am — 3 Comments

Shiv'a in Gaza: December 2008 by Deb Reich

This is rather long but I think well worth reading for those of us who are not iving the reality of Gaza.

I received it on facebook, but being a bit of a techno idiot, I didn't know how to send the ink and wil just paste and repost

Shiv'a in Gaza: December 2008 by Deb Reich

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Today at 1:33pm

My heart has been broken so many times, writes Alice Walker somewhere, that it feels like an open suitcase with the wind blowing through it... But maybe, she… Continue

Added by Chenae on January 2, 2009 at 1:24am — 2 Comments