Peace and Security
SocialAction.com recognizes that the Jewish community’s
perspective about the peace process in Israel is not monolithic. Therefore,
SocialAction.com presents a diversity of opinion through articles and listings
of organizations. SocialAction.com includes only those opinions and
organizations that respect differences, democratic values, and civility in
Israel and the Diaspora.
The Arava Institute for Environmental
Studies is the premier environmental teaching and research program in the Middle
East, preparing future Arab and Jewish leaders to cooperatively solve the region’s
environmental challenges. Located in the heart of Israel’s Arava desert, the Institute
is a unique oasis of environmental education, research, and international cooperation
that also fosters, among young Jews and Arabs, peace-building, long-term relationships,
and leadership skills.
In “Nature Knows No Borders,” David Weisberg describes this remarkable
experiment: “Amazingly, in a place known for war,” he writes, “an organization has
found a recipe for building peace—not through building walls, but by building bridges.”
Looking for a different, more meaningful way to get to know Israel?
Project Shinui (in Hebrew it means “change”) offers tailor-made volunteering services
across Israel for tourists, students, or people making aliyah, matching socially-minded volunteers with transitional placements
that suit their needs, abilities, and interests. Working side by side with Israeli
activists, Project Shinui volunteers gain first-hand knowledge of the complexities
and challenges facing Israeli society by working for organizations that deal with
civil rights, coexistence, women and society, immigrant absorption, sexuality and
diversity, and animal rights. Coming to Israel? Take time out for social activism.
Applications can be made individually or as a group from this site or by contacting
Shinui@themerkaz.org
They were world-class theoretical physicists who immigrated
to Israel from the former Soviet Union seeking a better future. Instead, on
February 3, Lyubov Razdolakaya was killed and her husband, Eduard Gedalin,
wounded critically, in a suicide bombing in Dimona. After arriving in Israel,
the couple joined the Ben-Gurion University program for immigrant scientists,
where they worked together in the lab. But few knew of their significant
achievements in particle physics.
The World Union of Jewish Students (WUJS) Institute's Peace and
Social Justice Program in Arad combines Hebrew language instruction, study tours
and travel, and a full-time internship in a social change organization. During the
5-month program, starting in April and again in October 2008, Jewish college graduates
(21-35) gain first-hand knowledge of contemporary Israel, meet with Israeli leaders,
and help advance social justice (Arab-Israeli coexistence, women's rights, immigration
absorption, the environment, etc.), within a Zionist framework. Generous scholarships
available! To apply, contact 1.888.WUJS.INS or wujsarad@yjimpact.org or
visit www.wujsarad.org.
Ninety-three bereaved Israeli children who lost family
members in wars or terrorist acts invited to spend 10 days at Camp Ramah in
California and New York. The respite program is sponsored by Friends of the Israel Defense Forces
and funded by private donors.
African Americans and Jews joined together to dedicate the replanting
of a section of a forest in northern Galilee, destroyed by Hezbollah rockets during
last summer's war, in memory of Coretta Scott King. Speakers praised King as a social
activist, proponent of equality, and friend to Israel. "We are continuing a
legacy of repairing damages of war [2 million trees were destroyed in the Biriya
Forest] and keeping alive the hope for peace," said Israeli Ambassador Sallai
Meridor, who was joined by members of the Congressional Black Caucus. Reforestation
is derived from the Jewish belief in tikkun olam—repairing the world. The Jewish National Fund is collecting donations
for the Coretta Scott King Forest, which will hold at least 10,000 trees.
AIPAC (American Israel Public Affairs
Committee)
The New York Times has called AIPAC the most important
organization affecting America's relationship with Israel, while Fortune magazine
has consistently ranked AIPAC among America's most powerful interest groups.
Through more than 2,000 meetings with members of Congress -
at home and in Washington - AIPAC activists help pass more than 100 pro-Israel
legislative initiatives a year. From procuring nearly $3 billion in aid critical
to Israel's security, to funding joint U.S.-Israeli efforts to build a defense
against unconventional weapons, AIPAC members are involved in the most crucial
issues facing Israel.
Americans for Peace Now [APN] was founded in 1981 to support
the activities of Shalom Achshav (Peace Now in Israel). APN is the leading
United States advocate for peace in the Middle East. APN's mission is to help
Israel and the Shalom Achshav movement to achieve a comprehensive political
settlement of the Arab-Israeli conflict consistent with Israel's long-term
security needs and its Jewish and democratic values.
Brit Tzedek v'Shalom, the Jewish Alliance for Justice and
Peace, is a national organization of American Jews deeply committed to Israel's
well-being through the achievement of a negotiated settlement to the
long-standing Israeli-Palestinian conflict. We represent the majority of
American Jews who support a negotiated two-state solution to the
Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Together, we are raising our voices in support of
a proactive U.S. policy that is both "pro-Israel" and
"pro-negotiated peace."
CAMERA (Committee for Accuracy in
Middle East Reporting in America)
Accurate, balanced and complete media coverage of Israel and
the Middle East is vital to public understanding of events in that important
region and, ultimately, to sound policymaking. A national media-monitoring,
research and membership organization, CAMERA works to foster sound reporting
while educating news consumers about Middle East issues and the critical role
of the media.
Hillel recently presented Foreign Affairs Committee Chair
Rep. Tom Lantos (D-Calif.) with 12,000 signatures petitioning Congress, Europe,
and the U.N. to support sanctions against Iran. President Mahmoud Ahmedinejad is
a Holocaust denier who has repeatedly called for the end of Israel. Lantos has
personal ties to Hillel: In 1947 the Jewish campus organization sponsored his
immigration to America from Hungary, when he was a “penniless survivor of the
Holocaust.”
American Jews must play a greater role in improving the
lives of Israel’s 1.2 million Arab citizens, members of a newly created task
force of communal organizations that recently met in Manhattan agreed. The task
force will work to raise awareness of the socio-economic disparities that
confront the minority population and steer funding to organizations that
address those differences.
By RABBI ARTHUR WASKOW
Jewish and Arab groups, in Israel and elsewhere, should hold
public ceremonies of grief and mourning for both Israelis and Palestinians who
have died violently in the conflict.
Attention 16-18 year olds! The Children of Abraham is
searching for 18 exceptional teens (nine Muslims & nine Jews) from eighteen
different countries to participate in an unprecedented Muslim-Jewish
Relations Discovery Program. The program is an intensive four month online seminar
that is designed to act as an educational gateway in bringing together Muslim and
Jewish youth to examine their current, as well prospective relations. Applications
due by January 20th.
Novelist Jerome Richard believes that Rachel Corrie, the
young woman who in 2003 stood in front of an Israeli bulldozer in the Gaza
strip and was killed by it, was sincere in her belief that she could help
protect Palestinians from a house demolition, and admirable in her sympathies.
His concern is the uses being made of her sacrifice.
The current flare-up of violence in the Mideast,
orchestrated by Iran, Syria, Hezbollah and Hamas, obliges all of us to act
decisively to support Israel's right and duty to do what is necessary to ensure
the safety of her citizens. For those in the US, we want to inform you about
two important
rallies that will be taking place on Sunday, July 16 and Monday,
July 17.
By RABBI JILL JACOBS
The biblical exhortation to wage war on the nation of Amalek
is dangerous when Palestinians are defined as Amalek. Instead, fighting Amalek
can be a metaphor for fighting inner evils.
By JEROME RICHARD
The ultra-Orthodox settlers are sincere in their belief of a
Greater Israel. That's the problem. Is there a way to accommodate their beliefs
and still have a 2-state solution?
