From the Mideast moderates, a bold plan for peace

[IndianaGreen]

Dear Members and Supporters,

We share with you below an op-ed by Member of Knesset (MK) Amram Mitzna in
today's Boston Globe. If you are in the Boston area, you can see Mr.
Mitzna tonight at the Boston Park Plaza Hotel and Suites at our second
national conference. See http://www.btvshalom.org/conference/ MK Mitzna
will be speaking Sunday 11/2 in Phildelphia, Monday 11/3 in New York City,
and Tuesday 11/4 in Chicago as part of a Brit Tzedek national tour.

Read more at http://www.btvshalom.org/director/mitzna_tour.html
We welcome you to join us.

B'shalom,

Aliza Becker, Executive Director
Brit Tzedek v'Shalom, the Jewish Alliance for Justice and Peace

http://www.boston.com/news/globe/editorial_opinion/oped/articles/2003/11/01/from_the_mideast_moderates_a_bold_plan_for_peace/

Boston Globe

From the Mideast moderates, a bold plan for peace

By Amram Mitzna, 11/1/2003

IN ISRAEL, with the Geneva initiative in hand, we are waging a major
campaign for a radically different tomorrow, one in which Israel's right
to exist peacefully as a Jewish and democratic state will be secured. In
the near future all citizens will receive in their mailboxes the draft of
a negotiated settlement of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Just days
after release of some of the most salient details, a poll taken by the
Israeli daily Ma'ariv found that nearly half of the respondents already
supported the initiative.

The Geneva initiative is the culmination of negotiations between
Palestinian moderates and moderate Israeli political leaders and security
experts. It is a detailed accord that meets Palestinian needs for a just
and viable state alongside Israel and Israeli needs for security and the
promise of peaceful relations with its Arab neighbors.

Contrary to the claims of Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, this plan entails
neither surrender nor betrayal of Israel. Instead it offers the potential
to realize the principles on which Israel was founded -- the creation of a
democratic Jewish state.

For the past three years, the prime minister has contended that there is
no one to negotiate with and nothing to negotiate about. In no uncertain
terms, we have proven them wrong. The Geneva initiative is a historic
turning point because it lays out for all to see what each side is willing
both to gain and to concede in return for true peace and security.

[La_Serpiente]

1. Dean

is very close to AIPAC.

Is Kerry close to AIPAC? Or is he more associated with APN (Americans for Peace Now, a Jewish organization)?

Is it possible that Dean's AIPAC members would swoop this new agenda aside?

More Jews identify with APN than AIPAC.

[IndianaGreen]

3. Kerry has strong liberal bona fides

that are not erased by his one bad vote on Iraq.

No one ever said that Dean is a liberal, not even Dean. Dean is a moderate that opposed the war in Iraq.

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

2. At last!

I am SO GLAD to hear of this peace initiative getting some press. I'm sick of only hearing Sharon, Sharon, Sharon. I'm sick of being told I'm a terrorist lover anti Semite because I disagree with Sharon's policies. Let us pray that the moderates succeeed and peace and justice can come to the area.

[The Magistrate]

4. The 'Geneva' Plan Is A Good One, My Hoosier Friend

Perhaps it can serve as a platform in Israel's next elections for an anti-Likud bloc.

[hossdiddy]

5. This initiative

is just a repeat of Oslo, where Israel will be asked to make tangible sacrifices that threaten its security in return for empty words.

The only real peace plan is the security fence.

[Darranar]

6. "Security fence"?

You mean deliberate land grab?

[Name removed]

8. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Darranar]

9. "Terrrorist apologist"?

LOL!

Let me ask you one simple question: Why does the "fence" for "security" ahve to go beyond the Green Line?

[bluesoul]

10. Curious

I am somehow suspicious of this new poster. He starts with the "terrorist apologists" thing straight from the FR textbook and accusing people. This sounds stragely similar to those on the right...

[Darranar]

11. And he defends Bush for "liberating" theIraqi people....

[bluesoul]

12. AHa

Yes, I have read his posts on the other thread. Now I am pretty certain about it.

[tinnypriv]

13. And straight into I/P too

Another to be ignored, I guess.

[IndianaGreen]

7. "God sent me here to live..." Tomer Naor, a settler in Gaza

"God sent me here to live, and I know what I need to do to keep myself and my family safe."

--Tomer Naor
Gaza settlement of Netzarim

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A48944-2003Oct31.html

We laugh at and condemn Ashcroft and Bush when they claim that Gawd tells them what to do. Why shouldn't we do the same to the fundamentalist rabble in the Jewish settlements in Gaza?

The road to security begins with a complete and unconditional withdrawal from Gaza, a land to which Israel never had any claims to, not even during biblical times.

Karl Marx was right, religion is the opiate of the masses.