Nic Abramson to display his work

OR DO THEY? (mixed media)

Local Woodstock artist, Nic Abramson, will display his work at the

Phoenix Gallery on West 28th St, NY. The opening is scheduled for

Thursday, January 7th, and the show is entitled "What's Right,

What's Left: Democracy in America."

Senseless Slaughter of Innocents

I am saddened, sickened,  and stunned by the senseless slaughter of innocents in Paris.  We as progressive members of civil society must condemn any and all barbarous attacks on innocents.

These types of acts whether in Paris,  Palestine,  Pakistan, or Ferguson are the result of oppression,  militarism,  racism.  and exceptionalism .  The US,  Israel and Saudi Arabia are all guilty on all counts.

Relentless,  daily brutality and terror are inflicted by the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) upon women, children and men in the militarily occupied West Bank and Gaza. Children are shot, gassed and imprisoned every day.  Israels' most recent attack on Gaza in 2014 resulted in 550 children killed,  10,000 homes demolished,  and thousands of adults killed or wounded.

The US drone attacks in Pakistan have killed scores of innocent men, women, and children.  Dozens of Black men killed by police and thousands more imprisoned on bogus charges and convictions.

It is profoundly disturbing that US policies and US tax dollars finance activities which result in so much unnecessary suffering and loss.

Let us stop sending Israel $3 billion a year to enable the collective punishment of the Palestinian people.  Let us say no to more funding for US drones which kill innocents in Pakistan.  Let us end the injustice in the justice system.

My heart breaks for the Parisians, the Palestinians,  the Pakistanis, the poor Blacks and all the other innocents, of which there are many.

Unfortunately, until we address and remedy the issues of oppression, militarism, racism, and exceptionalism these gruesome,  ghastly, and terrifying events will continue to occur.

Eli Kassirer

Empire or Democracy?

Jean-Paul Sartre had a warning for the French people regarding their country's long occupation of Algeria. Whatever a country does to an occupied people, it in turn does to itself.

With 800 foreign bases in 150 countries, the US is no doubt the world's largest empire in history. Since 1945, our country has overthrown dozens of democratic governments unfriendly to US business interests, and put in their place compliant military dictatorships. 

Now we see the destruction of our own democracy. Obama has established the president's right to kill anyone in the world, including US citizens, based on secret evidence presented at closed White House meetings. The National Defense Authorization Act overturns over 150 years of domestic law to allow the US military to enter our homes, remove us to some unknown detention center here or abroad and keep us incommunicado until "the end of hostilities." Section 1021 would strip US citizens of any due process whatsoever. The Cybersecurity Information Sharing Act making its way through Congress would legalize mass surveillance of all Americans by the national security state, enabling it to build a case against anyone.

Finally, two massive trade deals pushed by Obama, the TPP and the TTIP, would create secret courts of corporate appointed judges to dictate policy on pollution control, worker safety laws, consumer protection, food safety, etc. The rules of America's economy would be completely decided by the multinational corporations rather than by its citizens.

Empire or democracy. Nations have never managed to have both.

Fred Nagel

I hate: the Occupation. I hate racism. I hate hypocrisy.

Last night, October 19,  in Greenburgh Town Hall, at a Jewish Voice for Peace/ WESPAC event when Suhail Khalilieh, Palestinian policy analyst, and a young Palestinian girl from Bethlehem who teaches violin in Aida Refugee Camp, and Gideon Levy, Haaretz  journalist spoke, they were continually and furiously harassed and assaulted with violent ugly words shouted and spit out at them from a group of people mainly at the back of the room and in particular one woman who held up a sign “Gideon Levy = Hate.”  

Gideon Levy began in his steadfast strong measured voice: “Yes, the sign does represent me. I hate: the Occupation. I hate racism. I hate hypocrisy. I hate ignorance. I hate brainwashing…” The audience applauded his words. 

The audience was filled with a diversity of people, many of whom I recognized as Jewish friends, people who cared deeply about what has been happening to the Palestinians -  Christians and Muslims – as well as the Jewish people - since 1948 at the founding of Zionist Israel. I have been wondering why there is always such a brutal attempt to silence people who speak out against “Settler Israel,” regime after regime that has promoted an apartheid system in Israel and a brutal military occupation in the West Bank and Gaza; people who have erased the memory of Palestine as a country that once harbored Jews, Christians and Muslims.  

This Saturday night, October 24, 7 p.m. at the Inquiring Mind, Saugerties, Noga Kadman - whose Jewish forefathers on her mother’s side arrived in Palestine from Eastern Europe in 1860’s and on her father’s side, in the 1930’s -  born in  Jerusalem, now residing in Tel Aviv, will be presenting her book Erased from Space and Consciousness: Israel and the Depopulated Palestinian Villages of 1948. I hope people of all faiths and beliefs attend, and are able to take in and listen to -- without trying to snuff out -- what Noga has to say.  

Jane Toby

Intent to destroy… a national, ethnical, racial or religious group

Subject: Re: Letter to the Editor

To: Saugerties Times

Countering the opinions of Susan Puretz in her Oct 8 letter, I will refer to Jewish Israeli writers, researchers, journalists, and organizations.

Puretz writes: “Arab citizens, a minority in the State of Israel, just like their majority Jewish counterparts, enjoy full and complete citizenship rights.”

Nurit Peled-Elhanan, Faculty of Education, Hebrew University Jerusalem and member of Israeli-Palestinian Bereaved Parents for Peace, writes in Palestine in Israeli School Books: Ideology and Propaganda in Education that in spite of Israel’s success advertising its regime as a Democracy, researchers define it as an ‘Ethnocracy’ or ‘ethnic Democracy’ because ethnicity and not citizenship is the main determinant in Israel for the allocation of rights, power and resources.  Jews who are citizens of other nations and Jewish settlers outside state borders have full citizenship rights while Arab citizens inside state borders don’t and Palestinians from the occupied West Bank are ‘state-less.’

Haaretz columnist Bradley Burston writes (Aug 15, 2015) “It’s time to admit it, Israeli policy is: Apartheid.” “… I used to be one of those people who took issue with the label of apartheid as applied to Israel… I’m not any more … Not after terrorists firebombed a West Bank Palestinian home, annihilating a family…—only to have Israel’s government rule the family ineligible for financial support and compensation granted Israeli victims of terrorism, settlers included… Not after Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked, declaring stone-throwing terrorism, passed a bill holding stone-throwers liable to up to 20 years imprisonment… one week later, pro-settlement Jews hurled rocks, furniture, bottles… at Israeli soldiers and police at a West Bank settlement; in response Netanyahu rewarded the Jewish stone-throwers with a pledge to build hundreds of new settlement houses... This is what has become of the rule of law. Two sets of books. One for us, one for them. Apartheid… We are what we turn a blind eye to.”

Regarding the Occupation: Read reporters of Israel’s oldest daily newspaper, Haaretz,:  Gideon Levy, Amira Hass.  Hass reports from Ramallah, West Bank: “Palestinians Are Fighting for Their Lives; Israel Is Fighting for the Occupation—That we notice there’s a war on only when Jews are murdered does not cancel out the fact that Palestinians are being killed all the time.” Look up Jeff Halpern’s work with ICAHD, the Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions, “a human rights/peace organization dedicated to ending the prolonged Israeli occupation over the Palestinians.”

The international legal definition of “genocide” is not as simplistic as Puretz poses. This definition includes “intent to destroy… a national, ethnical, racial or religious group” and “killing members of the group; causing serious bodily or mental harm to group members; inflicting conditions of life calculated to bring about the group’s physical destruction …” Here, I recommend Israeli historian Ilan Pappe’s The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine.

For statistics -- on Fatalities, Detainees and prisoners, Destruction of property, Demolition of houses, East Jerusalem, the Separation Barrier, Settlements, Residence (Deportation,) Restrictions on movement (Checkpoints and roadblocks, unemployment and poverty, Death following restrictions on movement) and water crisis data -- check out B’tselem - The Israeli Center for Human Rights in the Occupied Territories.

Jane Toby

Attempts to silence free speech

After the Gideon Levy talk in Greenburgh I asked the police chief why the disrupters were not removed after repeated and extensive disruptions.  We all know that when we disrupt we are promptly removed by the police.  In any case,  he felt that they were simply exercising their right to free speech.  Yesterday I sent the following letter to three Greenburgh newspapers.  It was good to see all the mecr friends at the talk. (I would have included the names of the other speakers, but I don't remember them. Sorry)

To the Editor:
Israeli journalist Gideon Levy recently spoke at the Greenburgh Town Hall regarding the sad and disturbing truth about Israel's brutal and oppressive forty year military occupation of Gaza and the West Bank. The truth about Israels' criminal behavior and human rights violations are coming to light despite mighty efforts to repress these truths. American taxpayers pay over $3 Billion a year to support Israels' occupation and grinding dehumanization of the Palestinian people.

The local (and loco) loudmouths who shouted and screamed at Mr. Levy were not exercising free speech. The local Greenburgh police need to recognize that these screaming opponents of the non-violent Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS)  movement, which is trying to non-violently end Israels'  military occupation, were not exercising free speech. They were, in fact,  attempting to intimidate, inhibit, and silence free speech. Thank you to WESPAC for inviting Mr. Levy to speak.  Hopefullly, the Greenburgh police will learn to recognize the difference between exercising free speech and actions which attempt to silence free speech.

Eli Kassirer

Susan Peretz defends extremist theocracy

Susan Peretz is determined to keep Israel's image pristine by smearing anyone who would call attention to facts like the recent slaughter of 547 Palestinian children in Gaza, or the nearly 65 years of illegal Israeli occupation. 

These aren't actions of a principled regime, but of an extremist theocracy determined to ethnically cleanse all Palestinians from land it claims God has given it two thousand years ago.

Fortunately, there are many Israelis who value international law and human rights over religious dogma. One such Israeli will be in Saugerties (Inquiring Mind Bookstore) on Saturday, Oct 24, starting at 7 pm. Author Noga Kadman will talk about her new book, “Erased from Space and Consciousness: Israel and the Depopulated Palestinian Villages of 1948."

Israel doesn't have to be an apartheid nation, an outcast in the world community. But things won't change until the US decides it doesn't need a military colony in the Middle East. Not only is this colony incredibly expensive for America to maintain, but it destroys our image of a country committed to justice and human rights for all peoples of the world. Apartheid South Africa remade itself; so can Israel.

Fred Nagel

Welcome to the Israel Lobby

Welcome to the Israel Lobby, a heretofore hidden organization that almost pushed our country into a war with Iran. Yes, the Lobby is immensely powerful, especially in its almost complete control of Congress. And yes, it follows the dictates of the right wing in Israel, rather than representing the interests Jewish people in the United States. 

In fact, most Jews under 40 do not want a war with Iran, and Jewish organizations like J Street and Jewish Voice for Peace played a significant role in thwarting the Lobby's schemes. For a younger generation of American Jews, having their identity as well as their religion tied to a warlike, apartheid state in the Middle East has become increasingly repugnant. 

But it was more than the US peace movement that stopped our country from committing another "war of aggression" - the supreme international crime according to the Nuremberg Tribunal. The rest of the world simply said "no" to Israel and the United States, leaving both countries completely isolated in the community of nations. Representatives of China, Russia, Europe and the Third World declared peace with Iran and moved forward to open trade links and establish embassies. Had our country rejected the peace treaty and proceeded with its aggression, we would have become a pariah state, just like Israel.

Senator Schumer should resign from Congress for siding with Netanyahu rather than representing the American people. And the US must stop sending billions each year to pay for Israel's genocidal treatment of the Palestinian people.

Fred Nagel

8 Clay Ct.

Rhinebeck, NY 12572

845 876-7906

word count 250

As Jewish Americans

To the Editor:

As Jewish Americans, representing five New York chapters of Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP), we are dismayed at Senator Schumer’s decision to oppose the nuclear deal with Iran that US and other world diplomats worked tirelessly to negotiate.

A majority of both the American public and American Jews support the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), as do the United Nations Security Council and the governments of most of our allies.

It has been the stated policy of all U.S. administrations to resolve the Iran nuclear question through diplomacy. Unlike the mythic deal that Senator Schumer and other opponents pretend is possible, diplomacy requires compromise. It defies belief that the Senator is prepared to risk war to thwart this singular accomplishment of international diplomacy.

Natalie Kabasakalian, New Rochelle, NY
representing Jewish Voice for Peace Chapters in NYC, Westchester, Ithaca, Rochester and Albany

The letter to Schumer will be sent early this coming week with a representative name from each NY chapter and the final text communicated to you.  

Alana also facilitated the conference call on Friday and submitted the following notes summarizing the discussion/decisions.  I have elaborated very briefly at points to make them more comprehensible to non-participants.

Billionaires spreading the cancer of Zionism

America's politicians love Israel, and support this apartheid state no matter what human rights abuses it commits against the millions of Palestinians under its domination. 

The embrace is all about money. "Leading mega-donors" as reported by "The Jewish Daily Forward" are buying their way into candidates' hearts. Gambling king Sheldon Adelson, property developer Adam Milstein, car dealer magnate Norman Braman, and Hollywood mogul Haim Saban, multibillionaires all, are eagerly scooping up politicians of both parties (Saban is a major Democratic donor with close ties to the Clintons).

Money talks. Several state legislatures are passing bills that limit the right of Americans to criticize Israel's human rights abuses, labeling such free speech as anti-Semitic. Trade bills now being considered in Congress would outlaw boycotts of Israeli products, and even impose penalties on companies refusing to sell products in the illegal Jewish settlements. Secretly funded websites have sprung up to ruin college students' job prospects if they speak out about Israeli racism. University professors are being pressured not to say anything "hostile to the Jewish state." And the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs coordinates with a national Jewish group to sue food co-ops that boycott Israeli settlement products. 

Democracy is under even greater attack in Israel, where Sheldon Adelson runs the largest newspaper and bankrolls Netanyahu. Organizations like Rabbis for Human Rights and Physicians for Human Rights are delegitimized in favor of extremist groups that call for the ethnic cleansing of all Palestinians. 

Billionaires spreading the cancer of Zionism.

Fred Nagel

Defender of Israel

Our US Senator and self proclaimed "Defender of Israel" may be the most dangerous man in America.

There has always been a problem with Schumer's love affair with an apartheid state. His determined efforts to support Israel's continuing slaughter of Palestinians in Gaza have always made him look more like a religious extremist than a representative of the American people. Only a fanatic could wax eloquent about bombing schools and murdering 500 children.

And then there is all that US aid our government sends to Israel, three to four billion dollars a year while our infrastructure collapses and our public schools run out of money. Clearly Senator Schumer knows that he is robbing the American people to feed the growing militarism of his favorite theocracy in the Middle East.   

None of this, of course, makes Schumer truly dangerous to the American people. Supporting ethnic cleansing and racism is despicable behavior and certainly calls into question his belief in what we think of as American values. But it is his support of the rightwing warmongers in our country that presents a clear danger to us all. 

Israel wants the US to attack another country in the Middle East, and is prepared to pay tens of millions to our Congressional representatives to get its way. We have seen how effective Israel was in getting the US to invade Iraq. Now Schumer is leading the charge for war against Iran, again putting religious extremism above the interests of the American people.

Fred Nagel

THE BRUTAL PLANTING OF SOULS

For Rachel Corrie and Nan Freeman

“Quick eyes

Gone under earth’s lid”

-Ezra Pound 1921

 “La lucha continuara’/The struggle goes on and on”

-Rose-Redwoods 1972

Rachel, you had no way of knowing,

on that day, in 2003, US attacking Iraq, Israel

attacking Palestine, both

on a treadmill that goes

on and on and on, both

partway through an endless cycle of violence

You had no way of knowing, Rachel,

young girl with blonde hair

from Olympia Washington

your whiteness against the dark

of Palestine, no way of knowing,

back then,

that you too would be made

part of the treadmill, part of the cycle,

you too would be plowed

under the earth by war machines,

 like the “quick eyes”

of the young men of WWI,

like the body of Nan Freeman,

another student, killed in Florida

by other robbers of the earth, by their

machines that crushed soul and body,

in 1972,

no way of knowing that  you

would become  part of the struggle

That goes on and on, la lucha, al intifada

Que continua y continuara’,

No way of knowing that you too

Would be spoken of as a martyr,

Shahida, like scores of other people,

Breaking themselves against the war machine,

 lighting up the night

all over the world, from Germany

and Czechoslovakia  to America to Vietnam

to Palestine to Tunisia to Egypt to Syria

and back to Palestine

and back to your own

Disunited States of America

Year of Our Lord 2012,

9 years later, Rachel!

no way of knowing

when your name was given to you

In honor of the woman

of whom it is said

“Weeping is heard in Ramah, Rachel/Rahel

weeping for her children, and would not

be comforted,” and there is weeping heard, Rachel,

today in Ramallah and in Ramleh and in Jerusalem

and in Jenin and in Gaza and in Rafah

and in Damascus and in Halab and in Homs,

and in Cairo and in Tunis and in New York

and in Seattle and Portland and Oakland

Rachel weeping for her children

and cannot be comforted but you,

Rachel Corrie, you can be comforted!

You can be celebrated!   Mother of the revolution,

martyr to youth, wake up call

to us all, your body and soul

are planted seeds in the earth, seeds

of truth and light, which shall sprout

once more

into the Tree of Life, beacon for us,

inviting acts of light, acts

that keep the human race going forward.

Forward, people, together, Avanti popolo!

Let us harvest the seedlings of light!

Woodstock. January 23, 2012

To the International Brigades

“No pasara’n!” – La Pasionaria, 1937

Yet they HAVE passed, Dolores,

our secular lady of sorrows,

passed the frente de Jarama

and the frente del Ebro

and all the other fronts –

swept Europe with fire

then disappeared, only to surface

again in a new guise

in Palestine, wolves

in sheep’s clothing, burning

the flesh of Gaza and of Hebron

and Jenin with their hellfire missiles

and their gasoline, crushing

body with soul with tanks

and bulldozers, calling forth

the rising of our IBs once more!

As long as there are

eyes to see and ears to hear, 

we shall echo your call, time

after fearless time, until their ovens

burn themselves out, until

the wolves surrender to the lambs.

We shall shout until our voice gives out,

THEY SHALL NOT PASS!

Long Island, February 2015

The War Lobby

The pressure is mounting in elite circles for war both in the Middle East and in Ukraine, despite the trillions of dollars we have wasted on military adventures over the last decade, and regardless of how weary the American people have become of bombings, invasions, and torture being done in our name. Why the drumbeats for more conflict?

Our media won’t talk about the real players behind this call for war. One force is the rich and powerful weapons industry whose profits soar with each new bloodbath. Our defense budget of over half a trillion a year is maintained by armies of corporate lobbyists, who in turn bribe government officials with the potential of million dollar jobs in the private sector. Our biggest defense contractors sit on advisory boards right inside the Pentagon, plotting how to sell more obscenely priced killing machines. 

Even less talked about is the religious war lobby, an unholy alliance between right wing Christians and Jews. Working together in giant evangelical gatherings, they wave American and Israeli flags while fantasizing about a biblical holy war. Spewing Islamophobia, they pledge everlasting allegiance to the state of Israel, no matter how many thousands of Palestinian children it slaughters. 

Senators Gillibrand and Schumer are among the very top recipients of cash from the Israel lobby. Will they be willing to oppose America’s new militarism when the defense contractors and the fanatical Zionists start turning the screws? Will our two senators represent the people, or the well heeled war lobby?

Fred Nagel

Boycott Israeli Products

An effective way to motivate Israel to reform its policies toward the Palestinians is to boycott Israeli products. When Israel feels the economic pinch its leaders may be  inclined to end Israel's occupation and settlement of Palestinian territory that is leading to apartheid-like conditions.  Boycotts were key to ending apartheid in South Africa, and as part of a worldwide campaign they also can help in this case. This will benefit Israel as well as the Palestinians, because ending Israel's displacement of the Palestinians and its settlement of their land will give Israel the peace and security it needs.

So don't buy anything labeled "Made in Israel " or invest in securities of Israeli companies.  Brands to avoid include SodaStream, Teva prescription drugs, Leviev diamonds, Sabra, Tribe, Osem and Yehuda hummus and dips, CaesarStone countertops, and Checkpoint web security. AHAVA cosmetics are made in the Occupied Territories and should be especially avoided. Don't patronize cultural organizations like Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, Jerusalem Symphony, Israeli dance and theater companies, and teams like Israel National Basketball Team. Don't visit Israel and don't fly El Al, Israel's national airline.

Certain US companies also are legitimate boycott targets. Don't use the products of, or invest in: Caterpillar, Inc., whose equipment Israel uses to demolish Palestinian homes; RE/MAX Realty, which has franchises that sell Israeli homes built on confiscated Palestinian land; and Hewlett-Packard and Motorola, whose electronics Israel uses in its expansionist agenda.  Finally, don't invest in Boeing, whose jets and helicopters Israel uses to attack Gaza.

Gregory DeSylva

One irony in the “free speech” movement

One irony in the “free speech” movement that has emerged from the terrorist attack on the Hebdo office in Paris is how much the US media omits.

The United States, of course, funded and armed al-Qaida back in the Reagan years to counter Russian influence in Afghanistan. In addition, the US has had a long term “special relationship” with Saudi Arabia, the principal supporter of radical Islam in the world. 15 of the 19 hijackers in the 9/11 attacks came from Saudi Arabia. 

Our media also left out a key piece of information about the last horrific terrorist attack based on radical ideology, the slaughter of 77 mostly teenagers by Anders Breivik in Norway. The students had been gunned down because they were supporters of Palestinian rights, and the crazed gunman was inspired by Islamophobia and right-wing Zionism.

Maybe any religion that supports violent killings in he name of God should be condemned, be it Muslim, Christian, or Jewish. Maybe governments should be condemned as well. The US should end its support for Saudi Arabia, a country that monthly beheads more in the name of Islam than IS does in a year. Then there is our government’s embrace of Israel while it slaughtered 500 Palestinian children in Gaza. President Obama even rushed additional high tech bombs to the Israeli Army in case there were more UN schools to be obliterated. 

Let’s not cover up the truth in our newly found enthusiasm for free speech.

Fred Nagel

Article in La Voz Magazine

Thanks, Fanny, for the translation.

THE LAST GAZA WAR AND THE HISTORY OF THE ISRAELI-PALESTINE CONFLICT

By  Rosana Zarza Canova

Surely, may read in the newspapers or listen on the radio about the Gaza conflict that happened this summer, june 7 to august 26.  It started after 2 young Israelis were kidnapped and killed, on june 12,

Near Bethlehem, in Cisjordania, and a young Palestinian guy was assassinated on july 2 in east Jerusalem.

The office of humanitarian issues of the occupied territories in Palestine (OCHA opt) informs that 1.8 million people were affected in Gaza.  11,231 people were injured, and 2,231 died.  Israel had 71 dead.

OCHA also informs that 37.650 houses were damaged and 18,000 were destroyed in Gaza.  A humanitarian

Catastrophe.

When I spoke with my family, friends and co-workers about this event, I was angry when they suggested

That it had been a war.  I don’t believe that this last offensive has been a war.  The language that is 

Usually used about the Israeli-palestinian conflict is important: war is quite different than conflict and

Offensive.  This conflict has to be observed in order to understand that the events that just happened

Were not of a war.  Newspapers and radio news usually don’t have enough space or time to put the

Actual events in its right historical context.

It has to start by knowing dates, 1917, 1948, 1967 and 2000, y words like Zionism, Nakba, arab nationalism to understand the conflict.  On November 2^nd of 1917, the Balfour declaration was

Enacted.  Arthur James Balfour, the ministry of exterior of England, send a letter to the president of the

Zionist federation, giving him his support to create a jewish state in Palestine.  Zionism is a movement

Created to re-establish a piece of land for the jews in the land of Israel.  Palestine had been administrated by the English after the first world war.  In 1947 the united nations declared a partition

Plan for Palestine en two estates- jewish and arab.

1947 and 1948 an Israeli-arab war ensued between Israel and Egypt, Syria, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Irak and

Libia.  In 1948 Israel was declared a jewish state and the English left Palestine.  The Nakba, which is considered the arab catastrophe was when 900,000 palestinians had to flee or were expelled from their

Homes in what today is Israel.  My family, friends and co-workers should know about this history, in order to be able to comment regarding the actual event. Aljazeera.com, is a source known for its news

And history of the middle east, and tells how Israel took another 50% of the declared partition of the United Nations.

The six day war happened in 1967, and then Israel took Cisjordania of Jordan, Gaza and the Sinai peninsula from Egypt, and the Golan Heights from Syria.  The map, common in studies of this conflict, shows how Israel has been extending itself on the Palestinian territory from 1946 to 2011.  From the first world war to the present the Palestinian territory, and therefore, its politics and government, have

Been dominated by the english, Israelis or the arabs, and not by the Palestinians.  The organization to liberate Palestine (OLP) was started by the League of Arab Nations in 1964.  This league is comprised by the arab nations.  Arab nationalism started to be formed after the second world war mostly in Cairo (Egypt) and the OLP was started by Egyptians and not Palestinians.  Rashid Khalidi, teacher of arab studies Columbia University, suggests that the arab nationalism and the arab league undermined the

Palestinian nationalistic movement.  

After reading the history of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict I hope my family, friends and co-workers will not continue calling the recent offensive or conflict in Gaza, a war. The actual events cannot be understood without the context of its history, but only as a part of a long history, complicated and intense.  Palestinians do not have the capacity to make decisions for themselves since long time ago, 

Due to the fact that before the English, the Ottoman empire were governing.  Israel controls the Gaza

Strip and Cisjordania since l967.  It is called an Occupation.  During the last offensive, the secretary of

The United Nations, Ban Ki-Moon, ask a stop to the firing and said that there should be a way to end

This Occupation.  Also there is a lot of history to understand besides of the events that happened in 1917, 1948, 1967 and 2000.  For example, the failure of the peace process, the wall that separated 

Israel the west bank and Gaza, the history of Hamas, which is the party governing Gaza, and the blockade of Gaza.

About the Author

Rosana Zarza-Canova is the daughter of an Spanish father and a North-American mother.  She graduated from Bard College in May of 2014 majoring on Politics Science and Arab studies.  She is intense on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.  She stopped working for La Voz at Bard so that she could establish a project together with her Palestinian friend, called the Bard Palestinian Youth Initiative.  This project brings Bard students to a town in the west bank, summer time, as a cultural interchange, and to develop resources for young people.  January 2015 she is starting her new service to the community with youngsters and the Peace Corps in Morocco.    

  

Resources to Learn more About the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict

After summer of horror, Gaza families face winter in cramped shacks “Electronic Intifada.” October 17, 2014.  http://electronicintifada,net/content/after-summer-horror-gaza-families-face-winter-cramped-shacks/13952

Khalidi, Rashid.  Palestinian Identity: the Construction of Modern National Consciousness. New York: Columbia UP, 1997.

Gaza in cridital conditions,” says Ban, calling again for immediate ceasefire”  UN News Centre.  July 28, 2014.  http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=48357#.VEkru1arE3Y

Timeline: Palestine since 1915” AlJazeera. February1, 2009.

http://www.aljazeera.com/focus/arabunity/2008/02/20085251908164329.html

“Occupied Palestinian Territory: Gaza Emergency Humanitarian Snapshot” OCHA oPt. September 4, 2014. http://www.ochaopt.org/documents/humanitarian_snapshot_8september_2014-opt_v4.pdf