Friday April 6, 2012, 2:59 pm
Peter Beinart. (Photo: New America Foundation / Flickr)


History should mark March 18, 2012, as an important date on the road to a just and peaceful resolution of the Israel-Palestine conflict. That was the date on which an impeccably Zionist American Jew - Peter Beinart - had an op-ed in The New York Times calling on American Jews to boycott the Israeli government colonization enterprise in the West Bank, a boycott campaign he dubbed "Zionist BDS."

The purpose of this campaign is to rescue the two-state solution to the Israel-Palestine conflict, because the Israeli government colonization project in the West Bank is an existential threat to the two-state solution, and if there is no external change in the situation - an external change that increases pressure on the Israeli government to change course - the clear trend is that the colonization project will destroy the two-state solution.

Beinart wasn't messing around. He didn't just call for American Jews to join in the consumer boycott of commodities (like Ahava cosmetics) produced in Israeli settlements in the West Bank, as the impeccably Zionist Americans for Peace Now called for in July 2011. Beinart called on American Jews to "lobby to exclude settler-produced goods from America's free-trade deal with Israel," and to "push to end Internal Revenue Service policies that allow Americans to make tax-deductible gifts to settler charities."

As Beinart noted, American Jews who adopt "Zionist BDS" would simply be joining a campaign that Israeli peace advocates have already adopted. Prominent Israeli writers like David Grossman, Amos Oz and A. B. Yehoshua; Israeli actors, directors and playwrights; and Israeli teachers are boycotting the Israeli government's colonization project in the West Bank.

By Robert Naiman, Truthout | Op-Ed

Interesting though provoking article with a really fun video at the end. Hmmm...maybe the video is most fun for Jews. Rock out to Matzo!

Saturday April 7, 2012, 12:11 pm
The colonization of the West Bank has been a major issue, going back at least as far as the Clinton Administration, and stopping the settlement was a condition of the Mitchell Accords that Israel never enforced and which led to the current collapse that began in the Bush administration, who basically threw all of their support behind the Zionists in Israel and undermined the two state solution.

Saturday April 7, 2012, 12:17 pm

Yep, though I think Israel needs a PUSH to stop building settlements and begin recognizing the most basic of Human and Civil Rights of the Palestinian people. These days Israel is even beginning to deny basic human and civil rights of it's own people. Unless of course as in America women are not people, my friend; corporations are.

I do hope you all do watch the video at the end of the article.

Sunday April 8, 2012, 1:05 am
Thanks.

Sunday April 8, 2012, 4:07 am
Thanks

Sunday April 8, 2012, 1:58 pm
Thank you.

Sunday April 8, 2012, 5:02 pm
Interesting read...TY kit for the sharing. So much on this topic to think about it's difficult to imagine there are solutions in the near future, but March 18 would certainly be a good one as food for thought at least :-) .

Sunday April 8, 2012, 6:25 pm
I heard an interview with him on NPR the other day. I agree that Israel has to stopping building settlements and start thinking about actually doing something to bring about peace. I fully support the Israel as a state struggling to exist but the oppressed have become the oppressors and that I can not support. when the UN established the state of Israel in 1948 it seems there was never any thought given to what would happen to the Palestinians. While the Jews needed a home (and have for over a thousand years) after the war, it was not done in the right way. There were people living there and what did the UN think they were going to do? Of course they were not going to feel happy that their land, Palestine, was going to be given away. Now, 64 years later it is still a problem and concessions must be made. I wince every time I hear about a new settlement the Israelis are building and if a boycott is what it takes then so be it.

Sunday April 8, 2012, 8:16 pm
The Israeli Palestinian conflict makes me so afraid and depressed. The longer it goes on the more Israel seems to react harshly, viciously. They lose so much respect when it happens. And they are wrong to do it. They are letting the tail wag the dog. Their religious right is small, yet they yell the loudest and get their way. Oh wait, that happens here too.

The Palestinians have been dumped on by the world, but they really haven't helped their cause until recently. Public opinion is turning to Palestine and away from Israel. I hope the compromises take hold again.

Monday April 9, 2012, 5:41 am
I asked a couple of my Jewish friends who said they are also "impeccably Zionist American Jews" and they categorically opposed any support for Arab boycott of Israel. They said, and I share their opinion, that Israel has all rights to the West Bank - Judea and Samaria: it is a trophey of the war, taken out from attacking Jordan. Jordan paid this price for being an aggressor, the same way as Germany lost its lands to the victims of its aggression.

No support to Arab boycott of Israel.

Monday April 9, 2012, 6:28 am
Let us give PEACE a chance, for Israelis and Palestinians present and future generations’ sake!

Saturday April 14, 2012, 7:21 pm
"They said, and I share their opinion, that Israel has all rights to the West Bank - Judea and Samaria: it is a trophey of the war, taken out from attacking Jordan."

Bob, do you really live in a fantasy world. In addition to your completely false recollection of the historical record, you also now make new International laws. The problem though is that Israel did start the Six Day War, not the Arab states. You have Israeli leaders who have admitted to this, except Bob from Canada. I gather you think that your knowledge of the history supercedes what the Israeli leaders say.

Sunday March 24, 2013, 8:48 pm
check out my

The Four Citizens: A Passover Meditation

http://www.tikkun.org/tikkundaily/2011/04/15/the-four-citizens-a-passover-meditation/