Not Just "Surrection"

Passover and Easter have brought forth a miracle: Uncle Jay explaining the news without once mentioning Sandra Bullock, 24, the iPad, or trained dragons playing hoops. The rest is the good stuff. Haha, April Fool!



[via UncleJayExplains]

Not A Useful Narrative

Israel should be seen as any other nation state trying to defend itself, and should be held accountable for when they, like other nation states, over-react and cause more harm then they have to in war. In other words, the counter narrative here is not to see Hamas as some kind of "freedom fighter" going against an evil colonial regime, but to see Israel as over-reacting--perhaps understandably, but still over-reacting to terrorism. As one writer noted (lost the link) Israel has fallen into a rather dysfunctional way of responding to their enemies, and seem to have decided to respond with hatred to hate, and with killing to loss. One TMP writer compared this conflict to the Spanish Civil War where many Americans and Brits imagined (correctly) that Franco was a terrible enemy, but missed that those fighting for the Communists were hardly better. When George Orwell tried to point that out, he was shunned by those who wanted to see those battling Franco as good.

Not comparing Israel to either side, actually, but merely noting that in this particular war, good versus evil is not a useful narrative, and, I believe, stops us from getting to any kind of genuine solution. {full post}

[via Streak's Blog]

The Range of Possibilities

Israel is in the midst of celebrating 60 years of independence. Palestinians, on the other hand, grieve the loss of their homes and lands. The papers are filled with essays, articles, and op-ed pieces that wrestle with the issue. Some from a Palestinian angle, others from an Israeli one. As I have noted elsewhere, I find myself caught in the middle of a nearly century old dispute. Part of the problem is that the parties involved have yet to come up with a solution that would be acceptable to all parties -- including within their own communities. Thee are Jews and Palestinians supportive of a two state-solution. There are others, on both sides that take an all or nothing perspective. There are still others, more Palestinian than Jewish that look to a one-state secular democratic solution. To go that route, of course, would mean abandoning the idea of a Jewish state.

Further complicating the issue are the facts on the ground. There is the idea of a right of possession. Who has claim to property -- the ones who held title sixty years ago, some who still have keys to their old houses, or the ones living three now -- who perhaps are the second or third owner since possession changed?

To get a sense of the range of possibilities, consider some of the pieces that have appeared the last couple of days. {continue...}

[via Ponderings on a Faith Journey]

Nostalgia Sunday

[via Isreality]

Celebrating Easter, not as the Past but as the Present

[via Never Give Up, HT: Levellers]

O Little Town of Bethlehem: Barrier Wall Strangles Christian Community in Birthplace of Christ

[via BlueChristian.com]

Thirty-three Years Ago

The last time the first day of Ramadan and Rosh Hashanah coincided was thirty three years ago; that was the year of the “war to end all wars” according to Anwar el Sadat which started on Yum Kippur or the tenth of Ramadan. I celebrated the first day of Ramadan this year at the house of Jewish friends joining them for their Rosh Hashanah dinner to break my fast. On the way back from dinner I was reflecting on an Al Jazeera TV news program that I saw a while back which showed images of Sadat’s first moments visiting Israel and then the famous pictures of Sadat, Begin and Carter and their big hand shake. The Jazeera program focused on the failure of the normalization between Egypt and Israel and had two guests, the former Israeli ambassador to Cairo and an Egyptian writer. The anchorwoman did not hide her delight at the failure of normalization; the Israeli guest did not seem to have much coherent to say and was not allowed to say much anyhow. The Egyptian guest was full of solidarity with the Palestinians and rejection of the peace process, full of slogans from the Nasser era about Egyptians never forgetting their Arabism. There was really no debate, an Israeli complaining about the Egyptian Government failure to push normalization and an Egyptian complaining about the Egyptian Government for pushing normalization....

Thirty three years ago fasting Muslims and fasting Jews fought one another on a massive scale in the desert of Sinai and on the Golan Heights, for the sake of the memory of the thousands who lost their lives in that war and all the other Arab Israeli wars let’s overcome the hatred and work towards reconciliation; neither side has the option of prevailing by force. Only through dialogue, building trust and understanding the conflicting narratives will there ever be justice and peace in the Middle East.

[via Muslim WakeUp MWU!]