Jewish American Heritage Month

Posted By admin on September 4, 2021

I dedicate this essay to the memory of my late friend, David Dolinko. We were schoolmates from second or third grade through high school. He went on to earn a Ph.D. in philosophy, then a law degree and served as professor of law at UCLA for many decades. He wrote about the philosophical underpinnings of laws punishing criminal behavior. David was among the most brilliant thinkers Ive ever met which says a lot, since my life has been blessed by encounters with a collection of extraordinary, brilliant thinkers.

Does the impulse to act with mercy contradict strict justice?

Apparently yes, according to Rabbi Yehudah as recorded in the Talmud.

Rabbi Yehudah audaciously answers an astonishing question, What does God do every day? Rabbi Yehudahs description of the Divine schedule: The day has 12 hours. During the first three, the Holy Blessed One sits occupied with Torah. During the second three, he sits and judges the entire world. When he sees that the world deserves destruction, he stands up from the throne of justice (Hebrew din) and sits on the throne of mercy (Hebrew rachamim). During the fourth, he sits and plays with the leviathan (Avodah Zarah 3b).

Similarly, various rabbis assert that when we sound the shofar, God moves from the throne of justice to the throne of mercy (Vayikra Rabbah 29: 3, 4, 6 and 10). God can sit on the throne of justice at one moment and on the throne of mercy, but not on both at once. The two thrones are distinct.

In the Selichot, the penitential prayers that appear so prominently at this time of year, we repeatedly refer to God as King sitting on a throne of mercy. The prayer implies that same God could also sit on the throne of justice.

Maimonides, of course, warns us not to take literally any description of God as sitting, or standing, and not to indulge in the idea of the throne as anything but a metaphor for rulership (Guide of the Perplexed 1:9). I leave that thought for another discussion. Today I want to focus on the two thrones.

Apparently the throne of mercy cannot also serve as the throne of justice because justice and mercy remain incompatible. Even if we allow the thrones as metaphors, the notion that God relates to us sometimes in one mode and sometimes in its opposite seems highly problematic.

Kabbalistic texts also make a sharp distinction between the sephirah (attribute of God) of chesed (kindness) and the sephirah of gevurah (power). According to Reshit Hokhmah, a 16th-century source, Chesed is Pure Kindness, though only to the meritorious, as is the reward of the righteous in Gan Eden. Gevurah is Pure Judgment and retribution to the guilty, as is the punishment of the wicked in Gehenom (1:9).[i].

But what can we do? Mercy and justice negate each other. They cannot coexist without breaking the law of contradiction. So, we speak of the One God, just and merciful, as if relating to us from different sephirot, or sitting on different thrones. We have to, because justice contradicts mercy, and mercy contradicts justice.

But what if they do not?

How do justice and mercy really relate to each other? My late friend, David Dolinko, with modesty typical of him, called his inquiry into the question, Some Naive Thoughts about Justice and Mercy.

He states the paradox in these words:

Mercy is ordinarily conceived as a virtue, as a free gift rather than something to which one has a right or entitlement, and as something distinct from justice (to which, of course, one does have a right). In appropriate cases, mercy tempers justice, producing a different outcome than justice alone would call for. Yet, isnt a deliberate departure from the requirements of justice an injustice?

The conflict between mercy and justice, according to Dolinko, arises primarily in the context of punishment. According to justice, the offender deserves some punishment, but one may, mercifully, mitigate the punishment. If one mitigates the punishment, though, one has departed from justice. Why does the offender deserve punishment?

Dolinko answers: Punishment itself, of course, has long been a source of contention why is it ever justified? The principal answers that legal philosophers have given are either consequentialist (deterrence, reform or incapacitation) or retributivist (focused on giving the offender what he deserves).

The paradox arises primarily for retributivist notions of justice. A consequentialist, I think, does not even have to admit that anyone deserves punishment; the punishment merely has to deter other potential offenders, or take this offender out of circulation or serve some other beneficial end. For a retributivist, the offender truly deserves her punishment. Withholding the punishment amounts to injustice.

Dolinko observes, though, that justice does not mean the same punishment for the same crime. A nearly infinite number of circumstances can go into calibrating a just punishment. Perhaps the offender has boasted of the crime, shown no remorse or taunted the victim after the crime. Or, perhaps, the offender suffered an abusive upbringing, or was coerced into participating in the crime, or cooperated with law enforcement after the crime or shown remorse.

If the judge finds more of these mitigating factors relevant to sentencing, then we could call the judge merciful. However, Dolinko argues, those mitigating factors themselves if relevant are not separate from justice. Rather, the merciful judge, like one who does not show mercy, imposes on the defendant the sentence the judge believes he deserves, given the relevant circumstances but takes a more expansive view than her hardline colleague as to precisely what those circumstances are.

Theoretically, justice requires the same punishment for the same crime. In practice, each crime has its unique aspects. Judges may reasonably differ about which factors have relevance, but that disparity does not seem unjust to Dolinko. Unfair, and unjust disparities come when judges take into account invidious factors, such as race, religion, sex or personal animus.

Dolinko applies his analysis to criminal law as enforced in the courts. It seems to me that the analysis has relevance to theology. When we envision God as a Judge, the Supreme Judge, we may not need to see God exercising incompatible Divine attributes, sometimes judging the world with merciless justice and at other times with unjust mercy, sometimes sitting on one throne and sometimes on another. Rather we can envision God simultaneously understanding all our failures and all the mitigating circumstances of our failures.

Dolinko finishes his Nave Thoughts with the observation that I make no pretense of having solved (nor dissolved) any issue. I have tried only to propose a different way of looking at the problem, hoping it may contribute in some small way to the ongoing discussion.

May his memory be a blessing.

Louis Finkelman teaches literature and writing at Lawrence Technological University in Southfield. He serves as half of the rabbinic team at Congregation Or Chadash in Oak Park. This essay first appeared in the Times of Israel.

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A Word of Torah: As We Are Judged on Rosh Hashanah, Will We Receive Divine Justice or Divine Mercy? Detroit Jewish News - The Jewish News

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Posted By admin on September 4, 2021

Rabbi David Lerner

By Rabbi David Lerner

The Jewish community will be celebrating our New Year, Rosh Hashanah, on Sept. 7 and 8.

As was the case last year, this movement into a new season is a very welcome transition it has been another challenging year. The great hope that Covid-19 was in the throes of defeat was dashed by the emergence of the Delta variant. In many ways, this year was even more emotionally difficult than before. We arrive at this moment with an understandable eagerness to move forward and to not look back. To keep putting one foot in front of the other, looking straight ahead, trying to just withstand the tempest until the storm waters recede and the rainbow illuminates the sky, finally marking the end of this plague.

But Jewish tradition encourages a different approach to the New Year. In fact, the literal definition of the Hebrew term Rosh Hashanah is head of the year. One understanding of the phraseology is that the concept of the New Year can be viewed as a head which has the ability to gaze both backward and forward. Indeed, traditional texts teach that it is crucial to look backward in order to gain the insights necessary to most effectively and thoughtfully move forward.

To the Jewish people, New Years Day is not merely a festive, celebratory day, but it is actually considered, The Day of Judgment. It is a time when we are instructed to be in a state of self-reflection in order to prime ourselves for personal growth. Despite the reluctance to look back, particularly in ugly times, we are challenged to try and peel back the layers of darkness and find the seeds of light within ourselves and within the world which can serve as the basis for future elevation.

There is a story in the Talmud of a Rabbi in Roman times who was approached by Caesars daughter after she heard him relate a brilliantly insightful teaching. Now this rabbi happened not to be the most pleasantly looking fellow, and so she asked him, How can such glorious wisdom be contained in such an ugly vessel? The rabbi responded to her with another question. He asked, Does your father, Caesar, keep his most precious wine in simple clay vessels? She responded, Why, yes he does. The rabbi said, You, who are so important should rather put your most treasured beverages in silver and gold containers.

So, she went home and told her father to put all of his wine in gold vessels. Caesar followed his daughters instructions and the wine ended up oxidizing and going sour. He then asked her who told her to do this, and she let him know that it was the homely rabbi, whom Caesar then summoned. When the rabbi arrived, Caesar asked him why he did what he did. The rabbi responded, To demonstrate that sometimes the finest material is best held in the lowliest of vessels.

We, as a society, have gone through another incredibly challenging year. We have experienced much loss, isolation and emotional strain. But we understand that an essential part of the human condition is that the amount by which we can grow is directly proportional to the degree of struggle we face. While not minimizing the harm caused by this seemingly endless pandemic, ugly vessels can contain very precious gifts. As we look back over this past year, where did we shine? Where did we step up? And, where did we miss the mark? How do we not merely try to weather the storm, but challenge ourselves to grow in the process? How can we expand this perspective to lift up those around us as well?

This pandemic has dragged on for so long, but we must not let it sour us in the process. It is my hope and prayer that we can still see the beauty in all of this ugliness. Because in this world, and in all of us, is a spark of the divine. This coming year, we should witness the end of Covid-19 as a threat to our well being, but while it is still with us, let us honestly ask ourselves if we are confronting this challenge with the best versions of ourselves. Let us all strive to make this world better for this coming year. LShanah Tovah UMetukah To a happy and sweet New Year.

Lerner is a rabbi at Congregation Bnai Sholom-Beth David in Rockville Centre.

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Approach challenges with your best self this New Year - East Rockaway Herald

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Posted By admin on September 4, 2021

HOUSTON, TX This past weekend saw the NFL wrap up its preseason, the first since 2019. The teams of the league now embark on the longest regular season in the Super Bowl era, preparing for a 17-game regular season with the potential for teams to play up to 20 total games (3 post-season games). There is much to look forward to with the dawning of the 2021 NFL regular season.

Yet, for the Houston Texans, there is not so much a sense of anticipation, but rather, a sense of regret and lost opportunities. The team completed its final preseason game in a matchup with the defending Super Bowl Champion Tampa Bay Buccaneers. The first home game of the new league season, the squad fought valiantly, but it wasnt enough, falling 23-16 for its first L of the preseason. The reactions post-game were quite gloomy.

We blew it, man! lamented one unnamed player. We had a chance to clinch the preseason championship of the NFL. Our first one under the Divine vision of The Easterby. We had it!!! We so [Easterby] had it!!! It was all part of the master plan from the most Reverend Brain-trust. It was out path to glory!!!!

There was a master plan for the preseason? our reporter queried.

Yes. It was all ordained by the Most Revered, revealed on the mountaintop of the top offices at NRG Stadium, and extolled by the prophets Caserio and Culley. We had it down to one tablet, 4 ordained goals.

When asked what it looked like, the player demurred Hey, there is a line you dont cross. Only the Most Revered and pure can enter into the part of NRG where the Divine plan is held. Only the cleansed and ordained dare enter into the most Holy of Holies, the vault where the Divine Tablet resides. Only they can see and study the Divine plan.

Some of our reporters took this to mean a challenge accepted by the Texans. They found out where in NRG said Divine Tablet Plan resided. They had the camera crews ready to reveal this master planit did not go well.

In the midst of filing a flurry of new job advertisements to replace this rather unexpected loss of our staff, we did pick up some aspects of the Most Divine 4 Point Plan for the Texans:

1) Win the State

2) Win the Preseason

4) Profit

After intensive study, calling upon some of the most prestigious Christian seminaries, Talmud Scholars and Islamic Imams, all of whom either hung up on us, told us to get out and/or concussed our remaining field reporters with giant religious tomes, we didnt quite a clear answer about the true divine message of the Most Divine 4 Point Plan. Then, in a stroke of luck, we turned to that bastion of truth and unbiased opinion: the comments section of Twitter. The consensus:

You guys suck.

You are a combination of libratards/dumb-as-[Easterby] Conser-duh-tives

You can only steal from South Park in your analysis.

Ah, thats what the unclean heathens would have you believe noted an acolyte of the Divine Easterby when we followed up. We are aware of the vile, unholy South Park, and they had a 3-step plan. Ours is the true, correct 4-step plan.

But what is the 3rd step? we inquired.

There is but 4 steps to the Divine plan:

This circular argument lasted for hours, until our employee gave up.

Yet, while others debate the religious implications of the Most Divine 4 Point Plan, there were more immediate ramifications for the roster.

Oh man, Nick didnt take too kindly to the failure to clinch the Pre-season championship. All of those moves, made with the championship goal in mindoh, was he ever irate!! noted another unnamed team staffer.

His answer was manifested quickly with the immediate purge of the off-seasons biggest trade acquisition: Shaq Lawson. Brought in as part of the McKinney trade, he expected to be the centerpiece of the Texans pass rush for the coming season. Yet, after not registering any pressure on any of his pre-season snaps, Caserio quickly shipped him out for yet another 6th round pick. Miami, deciding that they havent trolled the Texans enough, cut McKinney 24 hours later.

Continued said staffer Yeah, everyone talks about the 1st rounders/etc. But we all know the true GOATs are found in the lower rounds, with the GOAT of the GOATs found in the 6th. That most revered and perfect QB, Tom Br(STOP THAT!!! STOP THAT!!).

Oh, that right, you have a hang up about the man, the myth, the New England legend Tom Brad (STOP THAT!!! STOP THAT NOW!!!).

Anyway, there is great opportunity in the 6th round. However, we have to be careful of the numbers. So long as we have less or more than 3, but not exactly 3 6th round picks, our Divine aura for glory will be safe.

As for those still on the team, there was the double gloom of missing out on some championship swag and the potential fear about the loss of a roster spot, as the team needed to purge folks before Tuesday.

Im good. Even though I didnt play a snap in the preseason championship game, I know that the team cant afford to lose its best single-wing quarterback, noted Jeff Driskel. Yet, that optimism might have been misplaced, as Culley later noted when asked about him Jeff, who? Oh, the sacrificial lambeh, hardly knew him. Then again Driskel might have been on to something, as he will return to the team on the practice squad. Will the team go to the single wing? TBD.

Man, I was really hoping for that super-new championship T-Shirt they were talking about. Wouldve been so cool to wear that back home, observed Davis Mills. Alas, I will have to just wear the boring team gear that I got for just attending preseason games. I wonder what happened to the gear?

While we at Totally Not Fake News didnt have an immediate answer, we have our suspicions. The usual story is that such gear is either destroyed or shipped out to some other part of the globe. We have unconfirmed reports that one such box arrived in Nepal, where the shirts were put to immediate use, mainly to clean up the increasing amounts of debris on the mountains . Best not to confirm that for Davis, lest it upset him too much.

With that, the preseason is at an end, and the team is moving ever forward towards the future NFL season, hoping to put the disappointment of failing to achieve one of its stated goals, but still driving towards the ever-present requirement, the most important stepStep 4: Profit!!! Or, if not that, then maybe a win or two in the regular season.

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Totally Not Fake News: The End of the Beginning - Battle Red Blog

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Posted By admin on September 4, 2021

Special CoordinatorTor Wennesland, welcomed Qatars contribution of $40 million to provide cash assistance to needy families in the Hamas-controlled enclave, but warned of continuing violence across the whole Occupied Palestinian Territory.

He told ambassadors that tensions along the Gaza perimeter fence, reached a peak on 21 August, when hundreds of Palestinians attended a rally, describing the throwing of stones and reportedly, improvised explosive devices, towards Israeli security personnel.

Israeli forces fired on Palestinian protestors, injuring 51 Palestinians, including 25 children. Reiterating that children must never be targeted, Mr. Wennesland called on all sides to show restraint, avoid provocations at the fence and keep the protests peaceful.

Drawing attention to a number of Palestinian deaths in July and August, he highlighted the killing of an 11-year-old Palestinian boy in Beit Ummar on 28 July, after Israeli security forces fired at the car he was travelling in with his father and siblings.

While Israeli authorities have opened an investigation, he added that the next day, security personnel killed a 20-year-old Palestinian man, amid clashes during the boys funeral.

Also voicing concern about Israeli settler violence against Palestinian civilians, he said further measures must be taken to ensure that Israel fulfils its obligation to better protect Palestinian civilians.

He called on Israeli security forces to exercise maximum restraint and use lethal force only when it is strictly unavoidable in order to protect life.

Noting that on 21 August, Palestinian security forces arrested 23 people, including well-known human rights defenders and lawyers, in Ramallah for their participation in a planned demonstration, the Special Coordinator called on the Palestinian Authority, which governs the West Bank, to immediately stop arrests of human rights defenders on charges that violate their right to freedom of expression.

Mr. Wennesland pointed to recent seizures of Palestinian-owned structures in East Jerusalem and urged Israeli authorities to desist.

Noting a gradual and partial easing of the access restrictions in Gaza by Israeli authorities, he said that for the first time in 18 months, permits will be given to 2,000 Palestinian traders and 350 businesspeople, to cross from Gaza into Israel.

However, the volume of trade still remains below pre-escalation levels, he noted, adding that no amount of humanitarian or economic support on its own will address the challenges facing Gaza.

UN Photo/Manuel Elas

The Security Council meets to discuss the Middle East and the Palestinian question.

Gaza requires political solutions that will see a full lifting of Israeli closures, the return of a legitimate Palestinian Government and the establishment of an independent, sovereign Palestinian State, he said.

Commenting on militant group Hamass takeover of a UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) school, he said the agency had declared its institutions inviolable at all times and protested the move.

While the school was subsequently vacated by Hamas, such actions undermine the inviolability and neutrality of UNRWA premises and compromise the safety return of children to their schools on time, he said.

Turning to the precarious state of the Palestinian Authoritys finances, he said that Israel continues to deduct from the monthly transfer of clearance revenues, an amount equivalent to what it calculates is paid by the Palestinian Authority to the families of prisoners and martyrs.

Also noting meetings between Israeli Ministers and their Palestinian counterparts, as well as a meeting on Sunday between Israeli Defence Minister Benny Gantz and President Abbas, he described the latter as the highest-level meeting between the two sides since the formation of the current Israeli Government.

No positive, hopeful step should be wasted, he said, calling for serious political efforts to return to meaningful negotiationsthat will address all final status issues, achieve a negotiated end to the occupation, and the vision of two States living side-by-side.

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Posted By admin on September 4, 2021

Ashager Araro, Dalia Fadila, Layla Alsheikh, Tami Hay-Sagiv, and Lama Abuarquob use various tools to ... [+] promote coexistence and equality for Israelis and Palestinians.

Its been almost four months since the latest escalation between Israel and Hamas violence that left 243 Palestinians dead, including 100 women and children, and 12 Israelis, including two children. Although the violence has stopped and people worldwide have moved on to the next trending international crisis, Israelis, Palestinians, and their families in the diaspora continue to suffer the consequences of living in a constant state of war.

Because even when the bombs arent falling, and rockets arent ignited tensions remain.

These tensions have festered for 73 years since Israel declared its statehood from the British Mandate For Palestine after Britains 30-year rule over the region. The two sides are well entrenched in their positions and comprehend reality accordingly.

But, despite the varying understandings of the conflict, a few things remain true. Both Israelis and Palestinians, two groups with their own cultures, identities, and histories, are connected to what is known today as Israel. And they both live there. There are more than 9 million people in Israel, including Jews, Christians, and Muslims. Of that number, 1.9 million are Arabs, comprising roughly 20 percent of the population. Most are the descendants of Palestinians who remained in Israel after the 1948 Arab-Israeli war and automatically became citizens of the country. (There are also approximately 2.1 million Palestinians living in Gaza and over 3 million in the West Bank, often referred to as Palestinian territories.)

Although the two groups technically live among one another and next to each other, Israelis and Palestinians are growing up and living vastly different lives. Israeli and Palestinian children are learning different histories about the creation of Israel. They have different views of what life was like pre-Israel. And many say both peoples are groomed by their respective societies with a lack of understanding and empathy towards the other. Oftentimes, they say, this leads to each group misunderstanding and mischaracterizing the other.

So whenever an escalation in the conflict arises, like the latest situation in Gaza, loud voices on both sides call for the statehood of one group at the expense of the other.

Oftentimes, though, the hate and noise overshadow voices that call for equality, peace, and unity. These voices advocate for a future where Israelis and Palestinians two groups of people with historical ties to the land can live among and next to each other, break bread together, with equal protection, rights, and without a border and separation wall.

These voices believe coexistence and understanding is the only way for an equitable future for Israelis and Palestinians and many leading the fight are women.

These women both independently and part of nonprofits and organizations are working to bridge the gap, break down the walls both literally and metaphorically and build a world where Israelis and Palestinians arent enemies but neighbors and friends.

For the last three months, ForbesWomen interviewed more than two dozen Israelis and Palestinians who live in Israel, the West Bank, Gaza, and throughout the diaspora. ForbesWomen also interviewed multiple organizations on the ground in Israel whose missions are unique but all whose purpose is to promote coexistence and bring Israelis and Palestinians together.

Each persons story about their experiences is powerful, as each person interviewed has suffered trauma because of the other group. But everyone here puts aside their pain and anger to advocate for a more just future for both peoples.

Over the next several weeks, ForbesWomen will release profiles of each woman and organization to share their authentic truths, stories, connection to Israel/Palestine, and why they believe the only way forward is together.

Below is a snippet of each woman and organization profiled.

Note: We struggled to find a Palestinian woman in Gaza to openly speak in fear of retribution from Hamas, the Palestinian resistance group, or fundamentalist, militant, and nationalist organization that controls the region. We spoke to a Syrian woman instead who lived in Gaza from 2017-2020 and who worked with the Gaza Youth Committee before being arrested and jailed for months for organizing a Zoom call with Israelis.

Lama Abuarquob, 49, Palestinian living in the West Bank

Lama Abuarquob, a Palestinian woman living in the West Bank, uses her voice to promote equality and ... [+] peace with Israelis.

Lama Abuarquob, who grew up in Dura, a city just a few miles from Hebron, in the West Bank, and whose family had lived here for generations, says her earliest memories of Israelis include immense horror and pain.

From hiding in a shallow grave when she was a child from Israeli soldiers to protecting her young son from being hauled off to Israeli prison for accusations that weren't true Abuarquob has suffered time and time again because of the occupation and at the hands of Israeli soldiers and people.

But today, the mother of five and school teacher uses her voice to promote equality and peace for both Palestinians and Israelis.

"My hope is that one day we [Israelis and Palestinians] will share wedding parties, we will share graduation parties, and we will share and enjoy the sea together," said Abuarquob. "My hope is that one day, my children, and my grandchildren and my Israeli friends' children and grandchildren will go to the same schools and universities. My hope is that they will be able to cross borders without being humiliated at checkpoints."

"Everybody needs a place to belong to, and I really hope that Israelis would feel that they belong to Dura as much as I feel that I belong to Jerusalem or Yaffa. Hopefully, one day, everybody will realize what's so obvious the life of a human being is more precious than anything in the world."

Ashager Araro, 30, Israeli living in Tel Aviv, Israel

Ashager Araro's family escaped persecution for being Jewish in Ethiopia. She's first-generation ... [+] Israeli and living her parents' and grandparents' dream.

In 1991, after facing years of persecution for being Jewish in Ethiopia, Ashager Araro's parents decided it was time to flee. They became part of what's known as Operation Soloman, an Israeli operation that airlifted more than 14,000 Ethiopian Jews to Israel from Addis Ababa, the capital of Ethiopia.

Araro says Israel saved her family; she grew up living her parents' and grandparents' dreams as a first-generation Israeli. But that doesn't mean she always agrees with the Israeli government. Araro uses social media as a tool to fight for equality for both Israelis and Palestinians and to share information about what it means to be Jewish and Israeli.

"There is only one solution. And the only solution, the only viable solution, the only acceptable solution is self-determination for both Israelis and Palestinians. Israel is a country with almost 10 million people, a diverse community with different backgrounds, and we're not going anywhere," she said. "We're built like any other immigrant country of different nationalities, and we come from different places. And we came here because we were chased out of everywhere else, every other place, and the Palestinians, the people that have been here, deserve the same rights and to have their own state and the ability to govern themselves and be able to control their own lives."

Dr. Dalia Fadila, 49, Arab Israeli of Palestinian descent living in Tira, Israel

Through education, Dr. Dalia Fadila works to improve life for Palestinians and Arab Israelis in ... [+] Israel.

At least ten generations of Dr. Dalia Fadila's family have lived in Tira, a city in the center of Israel. And after 1948, when Israel became a country, her family remained.

Today, Fadila and her family are some of the nearly two million Arabs who live inside Israel with full citizenship.

Fadila has dedicated her life to education and using it to improve the lives of Palestinians and Arab Israelis in Israel. She became the first female dean of an Islamic college in Israel and opened her own set of schools with multiple locations around the country.

"It's as if we [Arab minority] are on hold, waiting until there is kind of a resolution a two-state resolution and Palestine is independent and as if there is no legitimacy to whatever investment we have to do for our infrastructure, resources, economy, even cultivation of a kind of a culture of our own," Fadila said.

"If we want two million people inside Israel, Arab citizens in the state of Israel, raising our kids here to be excellent students in an Israeli schooling system and higher academic system and to go on and be employed and be part of the workforce inside Israel it is our responsibility to give back to this community."

"And of course, I am looking for a solution. And, of course, I am for a just solution and a humanitarian solution. But, still, my career and whatever I do around education, development of resources, intellectual resources, and economic resources, I do it because I believe our community inside Israel is entitled to investment and unique investment of its own."

Robi Damelin, 77, Israeli living in Jaffa, Israel

Robi Damelin's son was killed by a Palestinian sniper. But instead of seeking revenge, Damelin uses ... [+] her anguish for good to promote coexistence with Palestinians.

Robi Damelin, a native of South Africa, moved to Israel in her early twenties to escape Apartheid. Years later, her son David was killed by a Palestinian sniper.

But instead of seeking revenge, Damelin used her anguish for good.

For the last several decades, she has used her story to promote coexistence and peace with Palestinians, with the hope of preventing other families from experiencing her heartbreak and pain. She's a member of a nonprofit called The Parents Circle, a grassroots organization of Palestinian and Israeli families who have lost immediate family members due to the conflict.

"I come from a liberal family who defended Nelson Mandela, and my distant cousin walked with Gandhi from Pietermaritzburg to Johannesburg, so maybe it's something in the DNA," Damelin said. "But when David [Damelin's son] was killed, and the army [Israel Defense Forces] came to tell me, I said, 'You can't kill anybody in the name of my child.' I have absolutely no idea where that came from. Well, yes, I do have an idea; it's my background and why I am the survivor and not the victim.

"Since joining The Parents Circle, I have told my story all across the world. I have met so many extraordinary people along the way and there is a sense of gratitude that I could be a part of change for other people, almost saving their lives in a very strange manner and changing this attitude of hatred to something completely different."

Manar Al-Sharif, 23, Syrian who lived in Gaza from 2017-2020

Manar Al-Sharif met Palestinian people in Gaza who wanted to be promote peace with Israel but who ... [+] were scared because of Hamas. She did it for them and ended up in jail for months and then extradited out of the Palestinian territory.

In 2017, Manar Al-Sharif traveled to the Gaza strip to attend the Islamic University of Gaza, the only university her family would permit her to attend.

But soon after moving to the Palestinian territory run by Hamas, she knew she needed to do more. Al-Sharif said she made friends with Palestinians, many of whom wanted to promote peace with Israelis and find a solution to the Israeli/Palestinian conflict, but all who were too scared that speaking up would mean risking their lives.

So Al-Sharif decided to do it for them: she joined the Gaza Youth Committee. The committee was created by Rami Aman in 2015 and organized small-scale video chats and initiatives to bring Israeli and Palestinian peace activists together.

Because of her involvement with the committee in hosting a peace chat, Al-Sharif was arrested and detained for three months before being extradited to Egypt, where she is currently living.

"What most people outside say about Gazans, it's like they say, 'Oh, they are not doing anything for this situation,' you know, but the truth is, they are trying, but there is no option. Hamas prevents them from speaking out," Al-Sharif said.

Ruth Mayer, 85, Israeli born and raised in Tel Aviv, Israel

Ruth Mayer's family lived in Israel for several decades before the creation of the state under ... [+] British rule. They helped create the Jewish homeland something they'd been fighting for since Jews were exiled thousands of years prior.

Ruth Mayer was born in 1936 in Tel Aviv to parents who immigrated to the British Mandate for Palestine in the 1920s from Romania and Latvia. Like many Jewish people in Europe leading up to and during WWII (and during previous generations), Mayer's family wanted to immigrate to Israel. It is what is taught and known as the Jewish homeland in all Jewish and Torah (the Jewish/Hebrew Bible) teachings. The Old Testament says Jewish people, considered an ethnoreligious group and a nation, originated from the Israelites and Hebrews of historical Israel and Judah.

Mayer remembers mostly a happy childhood one full of Jewish tradition and love. But she says she also has significant memories of terror during that time, as she grew up during the Arab Revolt (1936- 45) and the Jewish resistance. There were countless moments of curfew and sirens warning of possible bombings. Mayer and her family sometimes spent days in a makeshift shelter with their neighbors. Although some neighborhoods were mixed with Jews and Arabs, she doesn't recall growing up among her Arab neighbors. And when she did encounter them, she says, she usually experienced antisemitism.

Mayer's husband, who also immigrated to the British Mandate for Palestine with his family as a young boy, volunteered for the Haganah, the leading Zionist paramilitary organization that eventually became the Israel Defense Forces (IDF). He fought in the 1948 Arab-Israeli War for Israel's independence and the wars following.

Mayer expresses her love for Israel every chance she gets. As she tells ForbesWomen, "It's the Jewish homeland that saved so many people," people including members of her and her husband's family. But still, she hopes for equality for both Israelis and Palestinians.

"I hope for peace," Mayer said.

Layla Alsheikh, 43, Palestinian living in the village of Battir, the West Bank

Layla Alsheikh's son died because Israeli soldiers wouldn't let her pass a checkpoint to get to the ... [+] hospital. But despite her turmoil, Alsheikh has become a peace activist, hoping for a world where Israelis and Palestinians can live in peace.

Six months after giving birth to her son Qusay, Layla Alsheikh experienced a heartbreak no mother should ever encounter.

On April 11, 2002, the tragedy began after Israeli military troops hurled tear gas in her village. Before sunrise, Alsheikh said she awoke to her son, growing sicker from the tear gas. Alsheikh, along with her husband and father-in-law, tried to rush him to the hospital in Bethlehem but were stopped by Israeli soldiers who wouldn't let them through, citing a "military zone."

They then tried their next best option: drive to a hospital in Hebron, but the main road was closed. One last time, they tried to take a windy, more dangerous backway to Hebron, but they were stopped again at a checkpoint, where Israeli soldiers searched them. Even after pleading with the soldiers to let them pass because of the baby's deteriorating condition, they were forced to wait for four hours before they were permitted to continue traveling.

Hours later, Alsheikh's baby boy died at the hospital.

For years after, because of the trauma and pain Alsheikh experienced, she despised Israelis. But she has since become a peace activist, working for coexistence between Israelis and Palestinians.

"We want the best future for our children and our grandchildren and for all the people around us. It's time to stop killing. We really feel sorry for every family who has lost their loved ones, even the people who lost their homes or their land," Alsheikh said. "I want to have peace and reconciliation because we want to live life, a normal life like other people."

Tami Hay-Sagiv, 41, Israeli living in Tel Aviv

Tami Hay-Sagiv grew up during a time where Palestinian suicide bombers were prevalent killing ... [+] Israelis around the country. But despite the pain and horror she's felt she's become a peace activist hoping to promote a better society for both peoples.

For years before the creation of Israel, when the land was under rule of the Ottoman Empire (followed by the British Mandate for Palestine), Tami Hay-Sagiv's family traveled there from Bulgaria with the hope of creating a Jewish country.

They were Zionists, or people with an ideology that supported establishing a Jewish state centered around what was referred to in the Torah as Canaan, or the Holy Land (modern-day Israel) based on a long Jewish connection and indigeneity to that land.

Her great-grandfather, she says, was a pioneer. His jobs ranged from paving roads to working in agriculture. The more he did, the more the patriarch of Hay-Sagiv's Israeli family fell in love with what he hoped would become a Jewish homeland.

Eventually, her family officially moved during the Mandate and fought in the 1948 Arab-Israeli War, with Israel winning.

This victory established the Jewish state, the dream of Hay-Sagiv's great-grandfather.

Hay-Sagiv grew up hearing stories from her elders about the tensions between Jews and Arabs pre-1948, the Holocaust, and pogroms in neighboring Arab countries, such as The Farhud in Iraq. And then, during the 1990s, she experienced and saw countless terror attacks and Palestinian suicide bombings firsthand, which only solidified her strong right-wing views and animosity towards Palestinians.

At this point in her life, Hay-Sagiv had never actually met a Palestinian person in her life. To top it off, she never learned their history or plight in school, helping cement her views.

She never questioned Israel's handling of the conflict until she was 22 and in academia. Attending Tel Aviv University changed her life. She was introduced to Palestinians, learned their history and narratives, and opened her mind.

She eventually started working for the Peres Center for Peace and Innovation, improving relations between Israelis and Palestinians and promoting coexistence and equality.

"Through the work at the Peres Center, I was always being challenged with my views because, in the end, it's there, it's deep-rooted," Hay-Sagiv said. "It shaped part of my personality. And what I've been doing during the last 20 years is fighting and going against it every day."

"I understood that if I'm living my life, I want to be on the side that believes in the values of human rights, morality, and seeing the good in people."

Rana Salman, 37, Palestinian living in Bethlehem, the West Bank

Rana Salman is the first female executive director for the nonprofit Combatants For Peace, an ... [+] organization made up of former Israeli soldiers and Palestinian freedom fighters working for equality and co-existence.

After Israel declared its independence in 1948, Rana Salman says her family was forced out of their home in Haifa and told to flee. She says Israeli officials told them that if they didn't leave, they would die.

This happened during what Palestinians refer to as the Nakba, the Arabic word for catastrophe. Palestinians refer to Israel's independence as a catastrophe because, during that time, hundreds of thousands of Palestinian Arabs fled or were forcefully expelled from their homes.

Salman's family ended up in Bethlehem in the West Bank where Salman was raised. During her childhood, despite the Israeli occupation, Salman remembers traveling to and from Israel easily; her father worked in a hotel in Jerusalem.

But after the first intifada or Palestinian uprising in the early 1990s, Israel created checkpoints.

Over time, these checkpoints grew.

It is now nearly impossible for Palestinians in the West Bank to travel within, or outside, the city's borders. Salman says many in the West Bank feel like they are living in an open-air prison.

But still, Salman comes from a family, she says, who has always promoted peace with Israelis. In 2020, she became the first female executive director for the nonprofit Combatants For Peace, an organization made up of former Israeli soldiers and Palestinian freedom fighters working for equality and co-existence for Israelis and Palestinians through protests, demonstrations, campaigns, seminars, and educational programs.

"I want people to see that this actually exists people are working together," Salman said. "This is not something that they hear about in the news or media. The international media always covers, you know, the violence and the bad side of the conflict. They don't cover these kinds of initiatives that we have.

"I think when you live here and experience several Intifadas and several wars like Gaza and all of that, you really know that violence is not going to lead us anywhere. We just continue to do the circle of violence over and over again.

"This is not an option, so this is what we work for."

Ruth Klein, 27, Israeli living in Jerusalem, Israel

Ruth Klein never met a Palestinian person until after she left Israel, and came to America for a ... [+] program at NYU. Now, she works for an organization working to eradicate violence and racism between Israelis and Palestinians.

Ruth Klein grew up in what she calls a very Zionist and nationalist home in Israel a home far from Palestinians both physically and ideologically.

But growing up in Israel, where she faced the pain of war and terror because of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, she became interested in learning more about how and why it was happening.

So, in 2016, she attended a program called Paths To Peace at New York University and went from never engaging with a Palestinian person in her life to sitting and speaking with them for months. She and fellow Israeli and Palestinian students all lived together, too.

When she returned to Israel, Klein says, her world opened. She began seeing everything around her in a completely different light.

Klein began working in the civil society sector and eventually landed a job at Tag Meir, a coalition of many Israeli nonprofits and organizations working to connect different groups within Israeli society to battle and eradicate racism and violence. Specifically, they focus on a form of terror she calls "price tag," where extremist Jewish settlers target Palestinians and Arab Israelis, often in reprisal for Israeli government action against illegal settlement activity. The attacks target mosques, churches, Arab homes and property, Israeli military bases and vehicles, and even Israeli Jews. According to Klein, the attacks often involve desecration of property with anti-Arab commentary and hateful and racist slogans. Sometimes these attacks turn deadly.

Klein said this happens often, but isn't widely known in Israel or internationally.

Her work consists of showing solidarity and support for Palestinians hurt by the "price tag." Through Tag Meir, she and others also host demonstrations, marches, work with people in the Knesset (Israeli government), and conduct training with the hope of creating a more equal and just society. They also work with Palestinian activists and people to provide for Jewish Israelis hurt by Palestinian violence and terror attacks.

"The good people need soldiers, and it's a sad reality that many, many times, the people that dictate what goes on are the extreme people that are promoting violence and bad things for society and the world," Klein said. "But at Tag Meir, we operate from the place that says there will be a solution one day and when it happens or until it happens and after and actually at any given moment, we need to live next to each other and learn to respect each other."

Vivian Silver, 72, Israeli living in Israel on the border of the Gaza strip

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Israeli And Palestinian Women: The Only Way Forward Is Together - Forbes

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MOSCOW, August 27. /TASS/. Russia's special presidential representative for the Middle East and African Countries, Mikhail Bogdanov, at a meeting with the deputy chairman of Hamas Politburo Moussa Abu Marzook confirmed Russia's fundamental readiness to host another unification meeting of Palestine's leading political forces and movements.

"There has been a detailed exchange of opinions regarding the prospects for restoring Palestinian national unity on the platform of the Palestine Liberation Organization. In this context Russia's fundamental readiness was confirmed to arrange in Moscow another unification meeting of the leading Palestinian political forces and movements," the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a news release on Friday.

As the ministry said, the Russian side "confirmed the invariable position in support of a negotiated settlement of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict on a universally recognized international legal basis," first and foremost the "well-known resolutions of the UN Security Council and the UN General Assembly."

"The importance was stressed of preventing any unilateral steps that might provoke another escalation of tensions between the Palestinians and the Israelis, including settlement activity, destruction of civilian infrastructure and calls for violence," the Russian Foreign Ministry said.

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Russia ready to host another unification meeting of Palestine's leading forces - TASS

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This is the fourth in a series of articles on the International Criminal Court (ICC). The Rome Statute creating the ICC entered into force on July 1, 2002 and the court is now in its 20th year. To mark the occasion, The Wire is publishing a series of articles evaluating its performance over the past two decades. Read the third part here; the second part here; and the first part here.

The recent attacks by Israeli forces on worshippers at Ibrahimi mosque in Hebron, in the occupied West Bank, only add to the seemingly never-ending list of atrocities. In June-July, 2021, the global community watched silently as Israeli forces demolished Palestinian-owned homes and business places in Silwan, East Jerusalem. In the face of Israels disregard for its persistent violations of international law and the blatant injustice of Israeli policies and actions against Palestinians, the quest for international criminal justice and accountability warrants a closer examination.

A project of settler colonialism

Israel and Palestine are not in the midst of conflict or war; rather, it is the implementation of a project of settler colonialism. There is an active oppressor and an oppressed; a coloniser and a colonised.

Settler colonialism is a distinct form of colonialism where the indigenous peoples, their properties and culture are systematically replaced by an invasive settler coloniser. Features of settler colonialism include prolonged and permanent occupation and assertion of sovereignty over indigenous lands; elimination and eviction of indigenous peoples; repression of their cultures and exploitation of their land and resources.

Patrick Wolfe (2006) explained settler colonialism as a perpetual system of indigenous erasure rather than one event. Israeli actions in the Occupied Palestinian Territory (consisting of the West Bank including East Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip) are not a temporary situation and hence the term colonisation is a more appropriate one than occupation.

The forced expulsion and impending demolition of more than 100 buildings and houses owned by Palestinians in Silwan, occupied East Jerusalem, in order to build an Israeli religious theme park and the Judaisation measures are ideal illustrations of settler colonialism an attempt to permanently dispossess Palestinians of their properties and erase their culture, replacing the same with Israeli culture.

In the words of a recent Human Rights Watch report, Israel seeks maximal land with minimal Palestinians. Among other notable reports that precede it is one from 2013 entitled Report of the Independent International Fact Finding Mission to Investigate the Implications of the Israeli Settlements on the Civil, Political, Economic, Social and Cultural Rights of the Palestinian people throughout the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem. This report concluded that Israels actions amounted to serious violations of international law, including the obligation not to transfer its population to Occupied Palestinian Territory.

Preliminary examination and investigation by the ICC prosecutor

Palestine does not have full membership to the United Nations, but has an observer status. It made a referral of the grave violations committed against its people by Israeli forces to the Office of the Prosecutor (OTP) of the International Criminal Court (ICC). The ICC was created in 1998 through the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, in order to prosecute individuals committing the most serious crimes under international law war crimes, crimes against humanity, genocide and aggression.

This is not the first instance of state referral of alleged crimes committed on its own territory to the ICC. Other examples include Central African Republic (2004), Democratic Republic of Congo (2004), Gabon (2016), Mali (2012), Uganda (2003) and Union of the Comoros (2013).

The timeline of Palestines referral to the ICC is interesting. Palestine acceded to the ICC treaty on January 2, 2015. Along with acceding to the statute, Palestine submitted a declaration under Article 12(3) of the statute conferring to the ICC jurisdiction over any crime committed in Palestine since June 13, 2014 (a date chosen by Palestine), which was accepted by the ICC registrar.

The dual action of accession and declaration is a unique one. With accession, the ICC would have exercised jurisdiction over crimes committed only after the ICC statute had entered into force for the acceding state, which would have been three months later April 1, 2015. No retroactive jurisdiction could have been possible. However, with the use of the declaration mechanism, Palestine was able to broaden the ICCs temporal jurisdiction. This brought a major outbreak of violence in Gaza and the West Bank in July and August of 2014 within the ICCs jurisdiction.

The accession and declaration by Palestine enables the ICC to investigate and prosecute ICC crimes committed within the territory of Palestine by nationals of any state (including Israel, of course) and by Palestinian nationals anywhere. While Israel is not a state party to the ICC, Palestines accession paved the way for an ICC investigation and the potential prosecution of suspects. Incidentally, this is the same strategy being suggested for Myanmars government in exile to confer jurisdiction to the ICC, discussed in the third part of this series of articles.

Thereafter, on January 16, 2015, the ICCs erstwhile prosecutor, Fatou Bensouda, announced the opening of a preliminary examination into the situation in Palestine. The aim of such an examination is to collect all relevant information to reach a fully informed determination of whether there is a reasonable basis to proceed with an investigation as required by the relevant provisions of the ICC Statute.

The prosecutors office spoke to both Palestinian and Israeli victims, affected communities and officials. It probably sought or could seek additional information from states, organs of the UN and other reliable inter-governmental or non-governmental sources.

Also read: Palestine: Can a Handful of Adolescent Criminals Destroy an Entire Village?

A preliminary examination is a necessary step prior to the launch of a full-fledged investigation. The aim of the preliminary examination is to assess if the situation meets the legal criteria set out by the ICC statute in order to warrant an investigation by the prosecutors office. During the preliminary examination, the OTP is mandated to consider jurisdictional matters, complementarity, gravity and the interests of justice. A policy paper on preliminary examinations, released by the OTP in 2013, outlines the focus areas and processes followed by the OTP in its preliminary examinations.

The preliminary examination into the situation in Palestine lasted for close to five years. In December 2019, the ICC prosecutor Bensouda issued a statement saying, the Office found there was a reasonable basis to believe that in the context of Israels occupation of the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, members of the Israeli authorities have committed war crimes under article 8(2) (b)(viii) in relation, inter alia, to the transfer of Israeli civilians into the West Bank.

Due to the complex issues related to the ICCs jurisdiction over Palestine, particularly the territory within which investigation was to be conducted, the ICC prosecutor made a request to a pre-trial chamber of judges on the territorial scope of ICCs jurisdiction to have clarity at the outset before a proper investigation began.

On February 5, 2021, the chamber decided, by a majority, that the court may exercise its criminal jurisdiction in the situation in Palestine and that the territorial scope of this jurisdiction extends to Gaza and the West Bank, including East Jerusalem. It unanimously ruled that Palestine is a state party to the Rome statute, settling the ambiguity in the legal status of Palestine in relation to the statute.

In its majority ruling, the chamber stressed that it was not determining whether Palestine fulfilled the requirements of statehood under public international law, adjudicating a border dispute or prejudging the question of any future borders; it was solely determining the scope of the courts territorial jurisdiction for the purposes of the ICC statute, as requested.

The ruling of the pre-trial chamber was a significant one as it confirmed that the prosecutor had the competence to investigate the alleged crimes. Thereafter, in March, 2021, a formal investigation was opened by the OTP into war crimes committed in Palestine, as announced by the ICC prosecutor.

Israels non-cooperation

While the Israeli government severely denounced the commencement of the investigation as undiluted anti-Semitism and the height of hypocrisy, the ICC prosecutor said in an interview that she would press charges even without the cooperation of Israel. The immediate implications of non-cooperation by Israel are that the ICC prosecutors office may have little access to the territory of Israel or to Israeli officials and other nationals while collecting the necessary evidence for the investigation.

Former Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netenyahu. Source: Facebook/Netenyahu

Subsequently, if suspects are identified and the ICC issues arrest warrants against them, the territory of Israel may act as a safe haven for them to avert a possible arrest and transfer to the ICC for prosecution. Since the ICC does not conduct the trial of an accused in their absence, the arrest or voluntary appearance of the accused before trial is necessary for it to commence.

There have been instances in the past that indicate the difficulty of executing an arrest warrant by a non-cooperating state. For example, the ICCs arrest warrant against Saif al-Islam Gaddafi (son of Muammar Gaddafi, the deposed leader of Libya and a key accused) has not been executed though he is believed to be at large in Libya, due to the non-cooperation of Libyan government. Gaddafi is a suspect who is alleged to have committed heinous crimes during a decade of conflict in the country.

In another instance, the ICC issued two arrest warrants in 2009 and 2010 against former Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir for war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide. However, 11 years later, he remains at large. This is because state parties of the ICC, particularly from the African Union, are reluctant to comply with ICCs request for arrest and transfer, despite being under a legal obligation to do so.

While cooperation of the state whose acts are under the ICC scanner makes an investigation into a situation and the prosecution of suspects a relatively quicker and simpler process, state cooperation is not always possible, as in the case of Israel with its blatant disregard for international legal norms. It is certainly not a prerequisite for the ICC to commence its investigation into the suspected commission of ICC crimes.

After all, if the ICC has to act as a safety net over and above national prosecutions through which civilian and military leaders may escape impunity, it may necessarily have to confront a reluctant, resistant and non-cooperative state whose policies and acts lead to the most serious crimes under international law. As is the case with many other investigations conducted by the ICC, the probe into the Palestinian context is a politically fraught one.

The investigation of Israeli and Palestinian actors

It is important to remember that, when the ICC opens an investigation into a situation, it examines the acts and omissions of all sides involved in the attacks and violence equally, notwithstanding the power dynamics between occupier-occupied, coloniser-colonised, oppressor-oppressed states or entities. Thus, despite the possible enormity of the violations by Israeli forces, leaders of Hamas and other armed resistance groups from Palestine may be equally examined for the commissions of ICC crimes. This is because the prosecutor is duty-bound to adopt a principled, non-partisan approach under the Rome statute.

This is substantiated by the erstwhile prosecutors statement issued in May, 2021 in the context of the reported attacks on civilians in Israel and Palestine. The statement said she had reasonable basis to believe offences had been committed by both the Israeli military and Palestinian armed groups, including militants of the Hamas group, in the Gaza Strip and in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.

It is hard to believe that the Palestinian authorities would have been naive enough to think otherwise when they acceded to the ICC treaty and issued a declaration that paved the way for the ICCs intervention. Certainly, the possibility of leaders of the Palestinian resistance coming under the ICC scanner would have weighed in and the decision to refer the situation to the ICC would have been taken after a careful consideration of all possible ramifications legal or otherwise.

Potential ICC crimes

As the ICC investigation is at a nascent stage, it is still unclear who will be charged and with which crimes that potentially fall under the jurisdiction of the Rome statute. The ICC prosecutor, in the statements issued and interviews given, has repeatedly referred to war crimes. These potentially include wilful killings, torture or inhuman treatment, extensive destruction and misappropriation of property that is not justified by military necessity, unlawful deportation, intentional attacks against civilian population and objects, attacking or bombarding villages, dwellings and buildings (including medical establishments) which are not military objectives, pillaging and outrages upon personal dignity and forms of sexual and gender based violence.

In comparison, the Human Rights Watch report of April, 2021 titled A Threshold Crossed Israeli Authorities and the Crimes of Apartheid and Persecution makes a persuasive case for the commission of crimes against humanity by the Israeli forces, particularly the crimes of apartheid and persecution.

Although the term apartheid was originally associated with the erstwhile regime in South Africa, over the past few decades, it has been gradually detached from that context. The International Convention on the Suppression and Punishment of the Crime of Apartheid (Apartheid Convention) of 1973 contains a definition of apartheid and its universal prohibition in policy and practice. The Rome statute of the ICC, which came into force in 1998, also included apartheid as a crime against humanity.

In the latter, the crime of apartheid consists of inhumane acts committed in the context of an institutionalised regime of systematic oppression and domination by one racial group over any others, committed with the intention of maintaining that regime.

Among the inhumane acts named by either of the two legal instruments are the forcible transfer of population, expropriation of landed property, creation of separate reserves and ghettos, denial of the right to nationality and denial of the right to leave and return to their country all of which fit perfectly with the Palestinian situation.

Palestine is a state party to both the Apartheid Convention and the Rome Statute of the ICC while Israel is a state party to neither.

Significantly, in 2017, the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (ESCWA) published a report on Israeli practices towards the Palestinian people and the question of apartheid in which it concluded, on the basis of a scholarly inquiry and overwhelming evidence, that Israel is guilty of the crime of apartheid.

However, this report noted that only a ruling by an international tribunal would make its assessment authoritative. It called upon the United Nations to urgently implement its findings in order to end the crimes against humanity and to prevent the further suffering of the Palestinian people.

The crime of persecution, as defined by the ICC statute, entails the intentional and severe deprivation of fundamental rights contrary to international law by reason of the identity of the group or collective. The identifiable group or collective could be a political, racial, national, ethnic, cultural, religious or gender-based one.

The two important elements for persecution are: a) Severe abuses of fundamental rights committed on a widespread or systematic basis and b) Discriminatory intent.

Needless to say, both these elements are present in the policies and practices of Israel on the Palestine people. For example, Israels widespread and brutal confiscation of over 40% of the privately owned land of Palestinians, the strictly-enforced prohibition on building or living in many areas, systematic pillaging and the mass denial of residency and nationality rights to Palestinians emanate from and indicate discriminatory intent.

The report of the Human Rights Watch and other similar reports have the potential to inform the ICC prosecutors investigation and broaden its scope from war crimes to include other serious crimes under international law.

Protesters take part in a demonstration to show their support for Palestinian residents of Sheikh Jarrah neighbourhood facing eviction during a court hearing, outside the Israeli Supreme Court, in Jerusalem August 2, 2021. Photo: Reuters/Ronen Zvulun

Complementarity

The principle of complementarity poses a potential challenge to the ICCs prosecution of suspects from the Palestine situation. The ICC operates as a court of last resort on the basis of the principle of complementarity. Domestic courts retain primary jurisdiction over the offenders and the ICC will prosecute only if the concerned state(s) is/are unable or unwilling to prosecute the perpetrators.

It is worth recalling that in December, 2020, the ICC prosecutor closed a preliminary examination into alleged war crimes committed by the United Kingdoms armed forces on Iraqi detainees during UKs military involvement in Iraq in 2003. In a controversial decision that was met with considerable public outrage, the ICC prosecutor explained in her report that she had decided not to open an investigation, precisely because, in her opinion, there were genuine domestic investigations and justice and accountability processes that were ongoing in the UK. This report is critiqued in the second part in the current series of articles.

Likewise, if Israel were to demonstrate the capability and sincerity of its legal system to effectively prosecute offenders who are Israeli nationals, the ICCs intervention may be thwarted. However, if the ICC prosecutor is able to prove to the ICC judges that any Israeli investigation and prosecution of ICC crimes allegedly committed by Israeli nationals is likely to be nothing more than a sham, intended at shielding the perpetrators and scuttling international efforts at justice, the ICC investigation and possible prosecutions would stand.

Infusing a gender perspective

The current discourse on international criminal justice for the colonisation of Palestine is often devoid of a gender perspective. After all, Palestinians are not a homogenous community and some are more vulnerable to horrific atrocities by Israeli forces than others.

A 2017 report of the Womens International League for Peace and Freedom illustrated the gendered impact of Israeli colonisation of Palestine. In particular, the report highlighted the targeting of women human rights defenders, women journalists and activists by subjecting them to night raids, arrests and punitive measures.

In its concluding observations on the sixth periodic report of Israel, the UNs Convention of Elimination of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) committee similarly observed that Palestinian women and girls continue to be subjected to excessive use of force and abuse by the state partys security forces and by Israeli settlers, including physical, psychological, verbal abuse and sexual harassment as well as violations of their right to life.

Also read: The Afghan Catastrophe Is a Moment of Reckoning for the Women, Peace and Security Agenda

The CEDAW committee also observed that the practice of night raids employed by the Israeli security forces disproportionately affects women and girls, and that they continue to be subjected to harassment at checkpoints and by settlers on their way to and from school and work.

It is hoped that in the ongoing investigation into the Palestine situation, the ICC prosecutor will not lose sight of possible commission of crimes related to sexual and gender based violence.

The road(s) to justice?

The ICC prosecutors launch of an investigation is a moral and symbolic victory for Palestinians. However, justice initiatives through the ICC have their own internal dynamics and inherent limitations. ICC prosecutions are prolonged in nature and are both resource and time intensive. Non-cooperation by Israel may prolong the investigation further.

Additionally, the ICC can prosecute very few persons from the Palestine situation, if any, who are most likely civilian, military and political leaders and officials who led the attacks. For many more suspects to be made accountable for the serious crimes, the resolve of the international community to indulge in varied legal options other than the ICC becomes crucial.

This could include the invocation of universal jurisdiction by a willing state for investigating and prosecuting suspects of serious crimes under international law through domestic courts. It remains to be seen if any state can withstand the pressure exerted by the United States and Israel against such an exercise through its active shielding of Israeli perpetrators of heinous crimes from any form of accountability.

Social and democratic processes coupled with economic and military sanctions against Israel may serve as a deterrent over and above the possible prosecution of a handful of suspects by the ICC. For example, the Boycott, Disinvestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement a Palestinian movement that promotes economic sanctions against Israel may play a key complementary role in deterring Israel from the further commission of heinous offences on the Palestinians.

In short, the ICC investigation plays a small but significant part in a multi-pronged strategy that is much needed to end Israels colonisation of Palestine and its brutal repression of the Palestinian people.

Dr. Saumya Uma was a co-founder of ICC-India: an anti-impunity campaign on the International Criminal Court and served as its national coordinator in the years 2000-2010. She is currently a professor of law at Jindal Global Law School, O.P. Jindal Global University, India and a Board member of Womens Regional Network. The views expressed are her own.

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As you read, listen to our curated Spotify playlist inspired by this story.

For Kareem Samara, a British-Palestinian multi-instrumentalist, composer, and sound artist, it was naseeb meant to be. One day in 2020, American-Palestinian filmmaker and music producer Samaan Ashrawi messaged asking him to play Baby, Please Dont Go, an American blues standard, on the oud. Ashrawi was curious what the blues would sound like in the quarter tones of the Middle Eastern instrument. Minutes later, Samara sent him a recording of the tune.

Its a song Ive always loved, says Samara. That song is in my bones.

Ashrawi and Samara met in 2019 in Palestine, when Samara was on a visit to trace his Palestinian history. His mothers family had fled Jaffa to Egypt during the Nakba, and he was the first of his relatives to return to Palestine since 1948. At the time, Ashrawi was researching Al Baraem, considered Palestines first original Arabic rock n roll band, which his father had started with his siblings in the 1960s.

Baby, Please Dont Go is likely an adaptation of a folk song from the time of slavery in the United States. Most variations of the theme can be traced back to the 1935 version recorded by Delta blues artist Big Joe Williams, whose lyrics relay the fear of a lover leaving back to New Orleans. One of the lines in the original version I believe that the man done gone, to the county farm, Now with a long chain on suggests the singer is a prisoner begging his lover not to move away before he is released.

The song has since been covered by several blues heavyweights and rock bands, including Them, AC/DC, and the Rolling Stones. For Ashrawi, however, the version that has stayed with him is that of famed country blues singer and guitar innovator Samuel John Lightnin Hopkins. The guitar riff on that song is so memorable, it will always be in my head, he says.

Samara suggested they turn the oud recording into a track. He was, like, Do you know anyone who could sing on this? And the first person I thought of was my friend Kam Franklin, Ashrawi recalls. Franklin, a songwriter and the lead singer of Texas soul group The Suffers, accepted the invitation.

To me, it felt really special to have Kam on the song, and I wanted to make sure there was some element aside from just her voice that made this version Kams thing, says Ashrawi. Thats when he thought of replacing New Orleans in the original lyrics with Third Ward, the Houston, Texas neighborhood where Franklin is based, and where Lightnin Hopkins lived.

It is also where George Floyd, a Black man whose murder at the hands of a police officer in Minneapolis last year sparked a global wave of reckoning, grew up and mentored young men. Black Americans have shown solidarity with Palestine, and we show solidarity back, but maybe not enough, says Samara. This is a great way of showing solidarity in a way that maybe hasnt been done before.

What started as an accidental one-off collaboration turned into a new band called Azraq, meaning blue in Arabic, featuring Ashrawi, Franklin, and Samara. Despite COVID-19 delays, the trio is working on new music, experimenting with original demos and blues versions of traditional Palestinian songs.

A painting by Nour Bazzari, a teenage Palestinian abstract artist, inspired by Azraqs rendition of Baby, Please Dont Go. (Courtesy of Samaan Ashrawi)

Thinking about the severity of the oppression that Black people have gone through in the United States, and thinking about the pain and oppression that Palestinians have gone through in both cases, its a pain that comes from colonialism, reflects Ashrawi. How can we bring the sounds of Palestine with the sound of blues, and also the feelings of both? Thats the intersection were exploring.

When playing in a band, the best performance comes from eye contact and from feeling, says Samara. But with the three quarantining in different cities following the coronavirus outbreak, WhatsApp became their way of staying connected while working on the track. The music and vocals had to be recorded separately, and we werent using a click, explains Samara, referring to a digital metronome that helps musicians stay in sync. Theres gaps, theres thoughts going on in the recording, there is a delay sometimes before one of the bars come in, theres points where we cross over. Theres points where she [Franklin] does something in her voice that is so perfect that if I was to edit it, it would take away from even the imperfection of me playing with her incorrectly.

Deciding to produce the track this way, while more challenging, gave it more of a live feeling that allowed the trio to stay true to the unrefined, improvisational nature of blues music. Ive always looked for honesty. Ive always looked for rawness. Ive always looked for some kind of authenticity in the sound, says Samara. And blues not only allows musicians to get away with this authenticity, it is a defining feature of the genre. With blues, there is a structure, there is an idea, there is a scale, but when that person got on their guitar, they could do anything they wanted.

Samaras home studio, where he recorded the music for the track, is set up precisely to facilitate this organic sound. The medium-sized room isnt soundproofed and gives off a slight reverb, which isnt considered optimal when recording music.

Samaras very indie, very lo-fi production process usually involves a laptop, keyboard, drums, oud, and guitar. For this cover, in addition to the oud and Franklins singing, Samara added a bass guitar; riq, a traditional tambourine common in Arabic music; Arabic and Kurdish darbukas, hourglass-shaped hand drums that he held in his lap simultaneously; and Syrian bells that go over the feet, which a friend had bought him from Jerusalem. It looks very fancy and complicated, but its not.

Untitled, from the series Islam Played the Blues by Toufic Beyhum. (www.tbeyhumphotos.com)

The song opens with a drone sound that Samara created using his keyboard. Im a big fan of patience, and atmosphere, and setting the scene, he says. The drone was the right thing to give it some space.

While discussing how best to integrate the drone and the percussion, Franklin said she had an idea. Within a day, she sent back the oohs that you hear at the end, says Samara. It makes that ending so much more haunting and special.

Ashrawi, whose father is Palestinian, grew up in Cypress, Texas, a town about 24 miles northwest of Houston. Though he recalls having few Arab neighbors, there were markers of Arab identity all over his family home: his grandmothers tatreez, Palestinian embroidery tapestries, adorned the walls; his father would listen to Fairuz and the Rahbani Brothers; even the pajamas he remembers wearing as a child had Arabic writing on them.

Framing Ashrawi in the Zoom interview was a grid of record covers hanging on the wall, from Gil Scott-Heron, to the Commodores, to Ray Charles. That gives you a good idea of what I grew up with, he says. A lot of Beatles, a lot of Led Zeppelin. A lot of jazz so much jazz.

Growing up, Ashrawi played the piano and the saxophone. Sometimes, he flirts with the idea of learning to play the guitar, but to learn guitar, you have to build calluses on your fingers, and I like having soft hands, he says.

In high school, Ashrawi saved a summers worth of lifeguarding money to install big speakers in his car trunk. I still have friends who will remember me by certain songs I played in the high school parking lot, he says, listing Three 6 Mafias Poppin My Collar and UGKs Cocaine as examples. In college, he took on deejaying and would use GarageBand, a digital music production software, to create beats on his laptop. I had ideas for what I wanted to hear, but I just didnt have the drive to physically make those beats myself, he says. This is when he decided to get involved in music production: It gave me the idea that this was something I would be interested in, but that I didnt necessarily need to be the one pressing all the buttons.

Samaras experience with music, on the other hand, is a lot more hands-on. He grew up playing the guitar at school, and was a member of several rock bands. Later, he worked in music publishing, placing music in films, and teaching guitar.

My mother would complain that the guitar doesnt sound like the oud. If I was playing Um Kulthoum, or something that I heard on her tapes, he says, referring to the Egyptian musical icon, I could never really get the quarter note, or even the full scales of some of the stuff that they were playing. On one of his trips to Egypt, he bought an oud, but it would take him years to finally muster the confidence to play it.

The blues is a musical genre created in the Deep South by African Americans. Blues songs are usually stories of suffering and loss, a cry that is also meant to assuage the pain. But blues has a more profound, spiritual side: defying despair, Dr. Sylviane Diouf, a historian of the African diaspora and visiting scholar at the Center for the Study of Slavery and Justice at Brown University, writes in a recent essay.

The musical genre was heavily influenced by Muslim traditions, which were brought to the United States with the enslavement of hundreds of thousands of Muslim West Africans starting in the early 1500s. Relatively little is known about these communities and their contributions to American culture, though, partly because the history of enslaved Africans has largely been ignored, and not always willfully many historians simply didnt have an understanding of African and Islamic cultures, and therefore didnt recognize their existence or influence in the archives, Diouf explains in a phone interview.

Ive read hundreds of books about slavery and the slave trade. My dissertation, when I was in college, was about resistance and revolt in the Americas. And I was surprised that I couldnt find mentions of the Muslims, says Diouf. This led her to ask: given that there were Muslims in Senegal, Mali, and Guinea, among other places, why dont we find them in the books that have been written about slavery?

Cover art by Dana Durr for Azraqs rendition of Baby, Please Dont Go. (Courtesy of Samaan Ashrawi)

Taking matters into her own hands, Diouf began investigating sources in French, English, Spanish, and Portuguese, uncovering a rich yet overlooked history. When you look for something, you find it, she says. Her discoveries were first published in a 1998 book titled Servants of Allah. A second edition was published in 2013.

From her research, Diouf learned that the stories of enslaved Muslims have also disappeared because of the way the trans-Atlantic slave trade separated African families. Since it was mostly men who were sold and deported, they either didnt have children or eventually married non-Muslim women. Even in countries like Brazil, which had big, strong Muslim communities of Africans who had been enslaved and freed, passing on the faith to the children became difficult: younger generations saw Islam as an austere religion that would position them as a minority, and it was more fun, to use modern terminology, to be a Christian, notes Diouf.

But there are reasons why the blues took root only in the United States, and not in the other colonies. There, enslaved West Africans recreated stringed instruments that they had been playing for thousands of years, like the banjo, different kinds of lutes, and the fiddle, which eventually evolved into the guitar. And when non-Muslims heard the adhan (call to prayer), Sufi chants, duas (supplications) or lamentations, they would have perceived them as another type of African music, which they then imitated and spread. Decades later, these practices, fused with other African music traditions, evolved into the shouts and hollers that led to the blues.

It was most likely these audible expressions of Muslim faith, and not merely what the musicians brought over, that generated the distinctive African American music of the South, Diouf writes in her essay. One striking example that she highlights is Levee Camp Holler, a tune that formerly enslaved African Americans sang while building the Mississippi Valley levees in post-Civil War America. It is almost an exact match to the call to prayer by a West African muezzin, writes Diouf. When both pieces are juxtaposed, it is hard to distinguish when the call to prayer ends and the holler starts. (Interestingly, the first muezzin was a formerly enslaved man from East Africa appointed by the Prophet Mohammad.)

This style of singing, featuring nasal, wavy intonations and melisma, the expression of many notes over one syllable, is still popular throughout the Muslim world. In Azraqs rendition of Baby, Please Dont Go, it can be heard in the reverberations of the oud, and the quivers and shakes in Franklins vocals.

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A case of the Palestinian blues - +972 Magazine

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Posted By admin on September 4, 2021

The free, daytime event on Sunday September 5, is jointly hosted by Hastings and Rye Palestine Solidarity Campaign [HRPSC] and the pier management team Hastings Pier Entertainment Ltd.

We are very excited to be throwing this amazing event on Hastings iconic, award-winning pier, said HRPSC Chair Katy Colley.

We invite everyone to step onto the pier and spend the day experiencing the culture of another country; tasting the food, listening to the music, watching the traditional dancing and hearing the stories. There is even a dabke dance workshop for people to learn the joyful, uplifting dance themselves.

Covid restrictions mean many of us arent taking foreign holidays this year so it will be a unique opportunity to immerse ourselves in another culture without leaving our own shores.

The event from 12 noon till 6pm will transform the top deck of the pier with stalls selling authentic Palestinian food such as falafel, hummus and baba ghanoush wraps, as well as sweet delicacies like baklava and knafeh.

There will also be stalls selling beautiful hand-embroidered craft such as purses, bags, keffiyeh scarves, wall hangings, olive wood bowls, necklaces, hair clips, brooches, bookmarks and flags.

Meanwhile, childrens activities and craft will run towards the back end of the top deck.

Throughout the day, there will be a rolling-programme of entertainment including a storyteller, music on the Oud and percussion and a dance show by the Hawiyya dance company.

We are thrilled to join in a celebration of Palestinian culture at Palestine on the Pier, said Serena Spadoni, member of Hawiyya Dance Company.

Dabke is a powerful dance that connects people while carrying a strong political and cultural meaning of resistance. It is rooted in the land and is an evolving art form that maintains its strong traditional roots. Our performance will take the audience on a journey through the narratives of identity, displacement and resistance with the use of dabke and contemporary forms.

She added: We also look forward to sharing our platform and dancing together with the participants during our dabke workshop.

Guests will also be treated to traditional Arabic folks songs performed live on the oud and drums by renowned Brighton-based musicians Jamal and Alaa.

Before coming to the UK, Jamal spent over 40 years of his life as a professional musician in Syria and vocalist and Oud-player Alaa is from a famous musical family and has played the Oud and sang for 25 years. They have performed together since January 2017 and proved a big hit at Hastings Come Dine for Palestine fundraiser in September 2019.

Katy added: Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza enjoy a rich culture and history. We feel Hastings is the best place to launch Palestine on the Pier since it has a tremendous openness to other cultures, not to mention an unrivalled sense of fun. This may be the first but we know it wont be the last perhaps next year there will be a similar event on every one of the 56 piers in the UK!

For more details visit HRPSC website http://www.hastingspalestinecampaign.org or the Facebook event page https://fb.me/e/XdLn6G4X

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Palestine on the Pier brings free day of cultural entertainment to Hastings this weekend - Hastings Observer

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Posted By admin on September 2, 2021

(JTA) Ed Asner, the Emmy award-winning Jewish actor who trademarked a gruff, flawed, and loving persona as Lou Grant in The Mary Tyler Moore Show and co-starred in the Pixar fan favorite animated movie Up, has died at 91.

We are sorry to say that our beloved patriarch passed away this morning peacefully, the family said Sunday on Asners Twitter account. Words cannot express the sadness we feel. With a kiss on your head Goodnight dad. We love you.

Asner, who once told The Forward he was too much of a Jewish bourgeoisie to play conventional roles, was an established character actor when he signed on in 1970 to The Mary Tyler Moore show to play her boss at a local TV news operation in Minneapolis.

There were occasional hints throughout the Mary Tyler Moore series that the Lou Grant character was Jewish. In one episode, a toxic character suggests he get together with Mary Richards friend, Rhoda Morgenstern, who is explicitly Jewish, because theyre both earthy.

In 1977, after the Minneapolis TV station fires all but one of the fictional Mary Tyler Moore characters, the Lou Grant character moves to Los Angeles to helm a print newsroom in a spinoff show Lou Grant. Asner is the only actor to have won two Emmys for playing the same character in two series.

The hour-long Lou Grant, considered one of the truest TV depictions of how news is gathered, abandoned the light sardonic touch its sitcom predecessor had in depicting journalists. In a newsroom modeled on the Washington Post depicted in 1976 in All the Presidents Men, Grants character template was Harry Rosenfeld, the Posts Jewish city editor known for simultaneously berating and nurturing young reporters.

Each episode grappled with an ethical dilemma. In one memorable episode based on a true story, a reporter assigned a profile of a local neo-Nazi discovers that he is Jewish. The neo-Nazi beseeches the reporter not to reveal the truth; the reporter consults with Grant, who counsels her to include the information. The neo-Nazi kills himself, and Grant and the reporter are left to wonder if they made the right decision.

With such open-ended stories, Lou Grant heralded the transition from the pat moralistic TV dramatic fare that prevailed until the 1970s to the more fraught and ambiguous fare that has flourished since the 1980s. CBS canceled the series in 1982; it claimed ratings was a factor, but conservative groups had threatened to boycott the network because of Asners real-life activism. As president of the Screen Actors Guild, Asner spoke out against the Reagan administrations backing of right-wing insurgents in Central America.

As Asner aged, many of his characters were more explicitly Jewish, from Joe Danzig, a worn-out principal at a troubled inner-city high school in The Bronx Zoo, in 1988, to Sid Weinberg, the abusive stepfather in the recent Karate Kid reboot, Cobra Kai.

Asner acted until the end, and the Internet Movie Database lists more than a dozen roles that are in production or post-production, or that had yet to film. Beginning in 2016, he toured the country playing a Holocaust survivor in The Soap Myth, a run interrupted by the coronavirus pandemic.

As a public persona, Asner was unabashedly Jewish. In 1981, he headlined a PBS documentary on Passover, and in 2012, he made a Jewish Hanukkah pitch for a charity that distributes cattle to impoverished communities. He joined Jewish Voice for Peace initiatives in speaking out against Israels occupation of the West Bank.

Im amazed by Israels militaristic achievements and accomplishments, and yet I think I gloried more at the Jewish image of the Children of the Book, he told the Los Angeles Jewish Journal in 2005, after receiving an activism award from a Jewish group.

In 2019, Asner narrated The Tattooed Torah, an animated version of the childrens Holocaust education tale. This little Torah is the story of our people, tattoos and all, Asner says in the narration.

Grant, born and raised in Kansas City to Jewish immigrant parents, told interviewers that his parents practiced a midwestern form of Orthodox Judaism, observing many of the religious laws but driving to synagogue. More substantially, he said they instilled in him a belief that Jewish practice was inseparable from activism.

I was raised to believe that giving back to your community is the good and right way above all, and that we were needed to uphold the faith, and if we upheld it, we would be doing right, he told the Jewish Journal.

Grant was at times a go-to villain: Playing a murderous thief in 1975 and again in 2012, he is perhaps the only actor to straddle the original Hawaii Five-O action TV series and its most recent iteration.

But his trademark was a deeply flawed character who finds redemption in an unlikely place or relationship. In the Mary Tyler Moore pilot, Grant badgers job applicant Mary Richards with personal questions: Why did she never marry, what religion is she? When she stands up for herself and says his questions are inappropriate, Grant delivers the one-two that would come to define his characters.

You know what? Youve got spunk, says Asner, as Grant. Moore, as Richards, grins. Grant follows up: I hate spunk. Yet he hires her.

He reprised that journey, from cynic to believer, in 2009s Up, the Disney/Pixar feature in which he voices Carl Fredricksen, an elderly man broken and embittered by widowerhood and a modern world seemingly intent on crushing him, who embarks on a balloon journey to South America with a young stowaway.

Like his characters, he told The Forward in 2012 that he had experienced an arc from self-righteousness to self-questioning.

My self-examination could have been more rigorous, he said. I could have been braver, better, more rehearsed for life.

Asked if he had a wish, he told the Jewish newspaper: Bury my ashes in Mount Scopus.

By Ron Kampeas

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Ed Asner, Proudly Jewish Actor Who Won Emmys as the Gruff Lou Grant and Delighted in Pixar's 'Up,' Dies at 91 Detroit Jewish News - The Jewish News

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