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In: human rights, Peace Plans, Racism

It has never been clearer that the issue is equal rights. Are Palestinians entitled to equal rights? Are both Israeli Jews and Palestinian Arabs, through the vehicles of their individual nationalist movements—which are not going to disappear in the foreseeable future and so must be dealt with by both sides as permanent realities—entitled to self-determination? Can those paths be reconciled with cooperation, which is the only way out of conflict and away from bloodshed? Answer those questions affirmatively and all the other issues—Jerusalem, settlements, refugees, water, borders or the absence of them—become far easier to work out. The process begins with ceasing to hold the Herzogs of the world to a lower standard than racist Fox News pundits.Continue Reading

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In: US-Israel Lobby

AIPAC moves on from its 2017 conference with its influence on Congress still strong, but clearly slipping, as it is torn between pushing a bipartisan agenda and working with the new President. The indecisiveness of the potent lobbying group is hardly surprising, given the lack of any sort of vision coming from either the Israeli Prime Minister or the U.S. President.

That creates an opening for other forces. In order to take advantage of it, however, someone, be it an Israeli leader or a U.S. liberal one, must articulate an alternative vision of the future, one that is achievable even if far off, and one that can inspire supporters of both Israelis and Palestinians. The window for that leader is open, but one cannot say for how long.Continue Reading