Sometimes I'm right and I can be wrong
My own beliefs are in my song
The butcher, the banker, the drummer and then
Makes no difference what group I'm in
I am everyday people, yeah yeah

I am no better and neither are you
We are the same whatever we do
You love me, you hate me, you know me and then
You can't figure out the bag l'm in
I am everyday people, yeah yeah

There is a yellow one that won't accept the black one
That won't accept the red one that won't accept the white one

And so on and so on and scooby dooby doo-bee

It is Thursday night, for those who celebrate Easter it is the night before Good Friday.

I have just read this Christian message.

It is a message that I can relate to, a message I can appreciate and a message I feel inspired by. 

This is the Christianity I grew up with and this is the Christianity I believe in.

I will always love and respect this version of Christianity, even if I do not call myself a Christian.

Peace and justice to all.  I hope you all have a safe and peaceful Easter.

- Chezza  

Christians, Resurrections And Revolutions By Eileen Fleming

http://www.countercurrents.org/flemin...

08 April, 2009Countercurrents.org "You may be an ambassador to England or France…You may be a state trooper, you might be a young Turk…You may be the head of some big TV network…You may be living in a mansion or you might live in a dome. You might own guns and you might even own tanks…you might even own banks. But you're gonna have to serve somebody. Well, it may be the devil or it may be the Lord , but yes indeed you're gonna have to serve somebody." -Bob Dylan, 1979. In the March/April 2008 edition of Tikkun Magazine, Walter Wink, Professor emeritus of Auburn Theological Seminary, pondered upon what happened to Jesus and his disciples: "No two resurrection accounts in the four Gospels are alike. At the core of all these accounts is the simple testimony: we experienced Jesus as alive…The resurrection appearances did not… take place in the temple before thousands of worshipers, but in the privacy of homes or cemeteries. They did not occur before religious authorities, but to the disciples hiding from those authorities. "What happened was every bit as real as any other event, only it was not historically observable…Though skeptics might interpret what the disciples experienced as a mass hallucination, the experience itself cannot be denied…what may have happened: the very image of God was altered by the sheer force of Jesus being. God would never be the same. Jesus had indelibly imprinted the divine…In Jesus God took on humanity, furthering the evolution revealed in Ezekiel's vision of Yahweh on the throne in "the likeness, as it were, of a human form." -Ezek. 1:26. "Something also happened to the disciples. They experienced the most essential aspect of Jesus as remaining with them after his death…after his resurrection, to interpret the unleashing of those powers [to heal, preach, and cast out demons] in themselves, [was] as if Jesus himself had taken residence in their hearts…In their preaching they extended his critique of domination. They continued his lif...

Christians, Resurrections And Revolutions

By Eileen Fleming

08 April, 2009
Countercurrents.org

In the March/April 2008 edition of Tikkun Magazine, Walter Wink, Professor emeritus of Auburn Theological Seminary, pondered upon what happened to Jesus and his disciples:

"No two resurrection accounts in the four Gospels are alike. At the core of all these accounts is the simple testimony: we experienced Jesus as alive…The resurrection appearances did not… take place in the temple before thousands of worshippers, but in the privacy of homes or cemeteries. They did not occur before religious authorities, but to the disciples hiding from those authorities.

"What happened was every bit as real as any other event, only it was not historically observable…Though skeptics might interpret what the disciples experienced as a mass hallucination, the experience itself cannot be denied…what may have happened: the very image of God was altered by the sheer force of Jesus being. God would never be the same. Jesus had indelibly imprinted the divine…In Jesus God took on humanity, furthering the evolution revealed in Ezekiel's vision of Yahweh on the throne in "the likeness, as it were, of a human form." -Ezek. 1:26.

"Something also happened to the disciples. They experienced the most essential aspect of Jesus as remaining with them after his death…after his resurrection, to interpret the unleashing of those powers [to heal, preach, and cast out demons] in themselves, [was] as if Jesus himself had taken residence in their hearts…In their preaching they extended his critique of domination. They continued his life by advancing his mission. They persisted in proclaiming the domination-free order of God inaugurated by Jesus." [1]

When Jesus quoted the psalmist, "I said, you are gods: you are all children of the Most High God" he not only agitated the temple teachers of the law, he challenged state authorities by equating all people as sisters and brothers and co-equals with Caesar.

It has been said, tell me your politics and I will know who your god/God is:

A god of war, or the God of peace? A god of injustice, or the God of justice? A god who seeks vengeance or the God of compassionate mercy? A god of violent retaliation or the God of nonviolence?

When we who claim to be Christian learn of and worship the God Jesus illuminated; the God of peace and nonviolence, not the god of state or nation, we will be a person who seeks peace by pursuing justice and remain physically nonviolent, but never silent.

Jesus was NEVER a Christian; the term 'Christian' was not even coined until the days of Paul, about 3 decades after Jesus/AKA: The Prince of Peace walked the earth and taught that it is the peacemakers who are the children of God, NOT those that bomb, occupy or torture others.  

2,000 years ago The Cross had NO symbolic religious meaning and was not a piece of jewelry. 

When JC said: "Pick up your cross and follow me" everyone THEN understood he was issuing a POLITICAL statement, for the main roads into Jerusalem were lined with crucified agitators, rebels, dissidents and any who disturbed the status quo of the Roman Empire and Military Occupying Forces. 

Jesus, while never a Christian, was a social, justice, radical revolutionary Palestinian devout Jewish road warrior who rose up against the corrupt Temple authorities and challenged their job security by teaching the people they did NOT need to pay the priests for ritual baths or sacrificing livestock to be OK with God; for God LOVED them just as they were: 

Sinners, poor, diseased, outcasts, widows, orphans, refugees and prisoners all living under the Roman Empire and Military Occupation. 

What got JC crucified was disturbing the status quo of the Roman Empire and Occupying Forces by teaching the subversive concept that God preferred the humble sinner, the poor, diseased, outcasts, widows, orphans, refugees and prisoners all living under the Roman Empire and Military Occupation above the elite and arrogant. 

The early followers and lovers of Jesus were called members of THE WAY-being THE WAY he taught one should be and that his sisters and brothers were those that DID the will of the Father: "What does God require? He has told you o'man! Be just, be merciful, and walk humbly with your Lord." -Micah 6:8

Turning the other cheek when struck is the sublime response to resist violence by disarming the attacker by maintaining the highest ground: self-controlled nonviolence.

"In the nations in which Christianity has predominated, Jesus' teaching on nonviolence has been perverted into injunctions to passive nonresistance, which…is the very opposite of active nonviolence…Jesus always resisted evil…The Greek word translated as “resist” [antistenai], is literally “to stand [stenai] against/anti.”

"The correct translation is given in the new Scholars Bible: “Don't react violently against the one who is evil.” The meaning is clear: don't react in kind, don't mirror your enemy, and don't turn into the very thing you hate. Jesus is not telling us not to resist evil, but only not to resist it violently." [2]

Programs of practical nonviolent responses to the evil that is violence have been articulated since the days of Hebrew midwives, Jainism, Buddhism, Jesus, St. Francis of Assisi, Gandhi, Martin Luther King and the Muslim Badshah Khan.

Jesus vented his righteous wrath when ever confronted with hypocrisy by being outspokenly courageous, aggressive and sarcastically witty. He also was always gentle with humble sinners, children, misfits, outcasts, cripples, diseased, widows, orphans, prisoners, refugees and preferred to spend his time alone in prayer or in the company of regular people.

Legend has it that President Bush got a message from God to go and bomb Baghdad. I contend that had he meditated/thought upon what his self-proclaimed favorite philosopher-Jesus-actually taught and modelled, he would have changed course.

A few months after America began to bomb Baghdad, President Bush granted an interview with a TV reporter who asked had he prayed for Saddam Hussein before bombing his country. Bush looked like the proverbial deer caught in the headlights, stuttered some and then admitted he had not.

Jesus was very clear that one must pray for, forgive and bless/do good towards one's enemies.

One's enemies can teach one more about oneself than listening to one's own voice.

Jesus warned the adults of his time to never do anything that would cause harm to children. USA sanctions on Iraq before 2005 had already killed nearly a million people- over half of them children under five.

There is nothing about Jesus' life and teachings that can support the anti-democratic dictatorships and State in the Middle East, some of which would collapse without benefit of American foreign policy and USA tax dollars.

No pretext, rationale or spin can change the fact that Jesus would never condone violence, no matter who wears the uniform or how noble one believes their cause; not for mom, apple pie, democracy or Zionism, would Jesus say it was OK to wage war that terrorize children and all innocent beings.

It will take an evolutionary step-a transformation of hearts and minds to stop the cycle of  violence, and the only force that can defeat that evil, is by NOT mirroring it.

Jesus called us to love all our neighbors, to show compassion toward everyone, to seek justice for the poor, to forgive our enemies, to put down the sword and take up the cross of struggle for justice and peace. Jesus laid down our life and calls his followers to risk theirs for love of God in all of humanity, and that includes our enemies.

Jesus' death on a cross said: enough! This violence against another life ends with my broken body. But, many did not know what they were doing, because they did not know god was already within all themselves and every other, for all are gods; all are children of the Most High God.

Jesus might call it a blasphemy what is spun as "collateral damage" for human kind was created in the image of the Divine. The command remains "thou shall not kill" and the promise he gave was that the peacemakers are the daughters and sons of The Lord.

"We live in a world of nuclear giants and ethical infants, in a world that has achieved brilliance without wisdom, power without conscience. We have solved the mystery of the atom and forgotten the lessons of the Sermon on The Mount. We know more about war than we know about peace, more about dying than we know about living." - General Omar Nelson Bradley, Armistice Day, 1948.

About 2,000 years ago, when Christ was about 33, he hiked up a hill and sat down under an olive tree and began to teach the people;

"Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the Kingdom of heaven."

In other words: it is those who know their own spiritual poverty, their own limitations and sins honestly and trust God loves them in spite of themselves who already live in the Kingdom of God.

How comforted we will all be, when we see, we haven't got a clue, as to the depth and breadth of pure love and mercy of The Divine Mystery of The Universe.

God's name in ancient Aramaic is Abba which means Daddy as much as Mommy and He/She: The Lord has said, "My ways are not your ways. My thoughts are not yours." -Isaiah 55:8

Christ proclaimed more: "Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth."

The essence of meek is to be patient with ignorance, slow to anger and never hold a grudge. In other words: how comforted you will be when you also know humility; when you know yourself, the good and the bad, for both cut through every human heart.

In other words: how comforted you will be when your greatest desire is to do what "God requires, and he has already told you what that is; BE JUST, BE MERCIFUL and walk humbly with your Lord."-Micah 6:8

"Blessed are the merciful, they will be shown mercy."

In other words: how comforted you will all be when you choose to return only kindness to your 'enemy.'

"For with the measure you measure against another, it will be measured back to you" Christ warns his disciples as he explains the law of karma in Luke 6:27-38.

"Blessed are the pure in heart, for they see God."

In other words: how comforted you will be when you WAKE UP and see God is already within you, within every man, every woman and every child. The Supreme Being is everywhere, the Alpha and Omega, beginning and end. Beyond The Universe -and yet so small; within the heart of every atom.

"Blessed are The Peacemakers: THEY shall be called the children of God."

And what a wonderful world it would be when we all seek peace by pursuing justice; for there can be none without the other.

"Blessed are those who are persecuted because they do what God requires, theirs is The Kingdom of Heaven."

And one fine day the lion will lie down with The Lamb and man will make war no more and that is the Kingdom of God.

"I said you are gods: you are children of the Most High God."-Psalm 82:6.

When we come to that evolutionary realization-as Jesus had-no way would we, could we wage war, harm children or remain silent in the face of injustice, oppression or hypocrisy.

1.    http://www.spiritualprogressives.org
/article.php/20090402223955947

2.    http://www.futurenet.org/article.asp?id=485

Reactions like this really do annoy me.  Here is an  Anglican Archbishop trying to invite open dialogue between people so that they can understand each other better and he is being criticised for it. 

What is some of the Jewish community so afraid of?  If they have an issue with some of the things former Iranian president Mohammad Khatami has said, then they should go along to the event and voice their grievances.

This man is not a Nazi criminal, he is a man living in a country in the Middle East who has grievances about the way Israel has and is treating the Palestinians.  I do not believe he has said that Jews are, "an old, incurable wound on the body of Islam, a wound that really possesses demonic, stinking, contagious blood' the reference was in regards to the State of Israel and from where he is situated he has a right to stand up for the Palestinians and his religion of Islam. I am sure plenty if people around the world have said some rather nasty things about Iran and Islam and I don't see us banning them from speaking.

How on earth can we achieve any form of meaningful peace if we cannot speak to our so called enemies.
 

Jewish fury at Melbourne visit by former Iranian president Mohammad Khatami

http://www.theage.com.au/national/jew...

* Barney Zwartz * March 18, 2009 MELBOURNE Anglican Archbishop Philip Freier is under fire from the Jewish community for hosting a function for former Iranian president Mohammad Khatami while he is in Melbourne this month. Jewish Community Council of Victoria president John Searle wrote to Dr Freier saying the Jewish community found it inconceivable that the Anglican Church would host "such a man" or even meet him. He declined an invitation to attend and asked Dr Freier to reconsider. Mr Searle told The Age that although Mr Khatami, president of Iran from 1997 to 2005, was regarded as a reformist, he was a sponsor of terrorism, a Holocaust denier and leader of a country that has often threatened to "wipe Israel off the map". "Only last year, this supposed champion of dialogue called Israel 'an old, incurable wound on the body of Islam, a wound that really possesses demonic, stinking, contagious blood'." Mr Khatami is being brought to Australia by La Trobe University's Centre for Dialogue and will give a public lecture on March 26. The Jewish Community Council has resigned from the centre's board of advisers in protest. Dr Freier said he had invited Jewish leaders along with other groups who suffered persecution in Iran - Christians and Baha'is - so they could raise their concerns with Mr Khatami. He said Anglicans were not unaware of the difficulties for minorities in Iran since the Islamic Revolution in 1979, and he was not an apologist for Mr Khatami, but if people were ready to engage in discussion he wanted to oblige. He had been asked by La Trobe University to host a meeting, to be held at his home. "President Khatami speaks of dialogue as being foundational, so it's important to be able to speak and listen. He has been the guest of the Archbishop of Canterbury at Lambeth Palace and he has high-level access while in Australia," Dr Freier said. As president, Mr Khatami was regarded as less confrontational with the W...

• Barney Zwartz
• March 18, 2009

MELBOURNE Anglican Archbishop Philip Freier is under fire from the Jewish community for hosting a function for former Iranian president Mohammad Khatami while he is in Melbourne this month.

Jewish Community Council of Victoria president John Searle wrote to Dr Freier saying the Jewish community found it inconceivable that the Anglican Church would host "such a man" or even meet him.

He declined an invitation to attend and asked Dr Freier to reconsider.

Mr Searle told The Age that although Mr Khatami, president of Iran from 1997 to 2005, was regarded as a reformist, he was a sponsor of terrorism, a Holocaust denier and leader of a country that has often threatened to "wipe Israel off the map".

"Only last year, this supposed champion of dialogue called Israel 'an old, incurable wound on the body of Islam, a wound that really possesses demonic, stinking, contagious blood'."

Mr Khatami is being brought to Australia by La Trobe University's Centre for Dialogue and will give a public lecture on March 26.

The Jewish Community Council has resigned from the centre's board of advisers in protest.

Dr Freier said he had invited Jewish leaders along with other groups who suffered persecution in Iran - Christians and Baha'is - so they could raise their concerns with Mr Khatami.

He said Anglicans were not unaware of the difficulties for minorities in Iran since the Islamic Revolution in 1979, and he was not an apologist for Mr Khatami, but if people were ready to engage in discussion he wanted to oblige.

He had been asked by La Trobe University to host a meeting, to be held at his home. "President Khatami speaks of dialogue as being foundational, so it's important to be able to speak and listen. He has been the guest of the Archbishop of Canterbury at Lambeth Palace and he has high-level access while in Australia," Dr Freier said.

As president, Mr Khatami was regarded as less confrontational with the West than some others.

He said in Iran yesterday he was withdrawing as candidate for president against the hardline incumbent, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, to avoid dividing the reformist vote.

Professor Joseph Camilleri, director of La Trobe's Centre for Dialogue, said the Jewish community's response was an over-reaction. He said Mr Khatami was "a major intellectual of the 21st century" and that he would be discussing his influential theory of the importance of dialogue in international affairs, but not Israel or Iran.

"The JCCV is completely out of step with the mainstream thinking of informed Australians," he said. "I told them I think they are shooting themselves in the foot."

Mr Searle agreed that differences over Mr Khatami could increase tension between Melbourne's Muslims and Jews, whose relations are at their lowest ebb in years over Israel's incursion into Gaza in January.

Last month the Executive Council of Australian Jewry cut formal ties with the Australian Federation of Islamic Councils after AFIC chairman Ikebal Patel refused to recant his claim that the former victims of the Holocaust were perpetrating "much worse atrocities" in Gaza.

The controversy over Mr Khatami's visit comes as US President Barack Obama tries to open channels to Tehran and reduce hostility between the two countries amid international concerns that Iran is on the verge of developing a nuclear bomb.

I think the more people who read and understand this fact the better. 

Sadly there will always be people with bad intentions who will hijack religion, no matter what the religion it is for their own selfish gains.  Tragically there will always be people who will be deceived by these undesirables who pose as experts.

Also there will be those who make generalisations about a whole group of people based on the actions of a few and some of these people will spread hatred against "others" based on these false generalisations.

Peace.

Terrorism is un-Islamic, say Muslim scholars in India - Haaretz - Israel News

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/9...

The Darul-Uloom Deoband in India, considered the most influential school for Islamic law in Asia, on Monday denounced terrorism as being against the teachings of Islam and said it was likely to impose a fatwa against it during a conference of clerics from India and abroad, media reports said. The head of the powerful seminary, Maulana Marghoobur Rahman, said terrorism was completely wrong and thoughtless, and contradicted Islam's concept of peace, the NDTV network reported, quoting from his address to 10,000 clerics from religious schools - known as madrassas - and foreign delegates. Speaking at the institution, some 150 kilometers north of New Delhi, Rahman also criticized the Indian government, saying that policing of madrassas and students was unjustified and went against the secular character of the country. AdvertisementMeanwhile, scholars said the conference was likely to decide on a fatwa against terrorism and adopt a declaration denouncing terrorism. The conference will also ask the Muslim community to stay away from acts of terrorism and organizations that encourage violence in the name of religion. It was the first time in the school's 150-year history that such a conference against terrorism was held. The seminary was established in the late 19th century and has adherents from Afghanistan and Pakistan to the whole of South-East Asia. The Taliban have often claimed adherence to the Deoband school, which has been strongly denied by the scholars there. Deoband spokesman Asif Siddique told the NDTV that misconceptions linked with Islam and madrassas needed to be removed. "We want to make the public conscious (about terrorism). The disease of (terrorism) has been diagnosed in a wrong way. Whenever any incident of terrorism happens, there is an effort to link it to Muslims or those studying in madrassas," he said. "This is totally wrong. I must emphasize that the real disease must be diagnosed, then only is the cure possible," Siddique said.

The Darul-Uloom Deoband in India, considered the most influential school for Islamic law in Asia, on Monday denounced terrorism as being against the teachings of Islam and said it was likely to impose a fatwa against it during a conference of clerics from India and abroad, media reports said.

Speaking at the institution, some 150 kilometers north of New Delhi, Rahman also criticized the Indian government, saying that policing of madrassas and students was unjustified and went against the secular character of the country. Meanwhile, scholars said the conference was likely to decide on a fatwa against terrorism and adopt a declaration denouncing terrorism.

The conference will also ask the Muslim community to stay away from acts of terrorism and organizations that encourage violence in the name of religion.

It was the first time in the school's 150-year history that such a conference against terrorism was held.

The seminary was established in the late 19th century and has adherents from Afghanistan and Pakistan to the whole of South-East Asia. The Taliban have often claimed adherence to the Deoband school, which has been strongly denied by the scholars there.

Deoband spokesman Asif Siddique told the NDTV that misconceptions linked with Islam and madrassas needed to be removed.

"We want to make the public conscious (about terrorism). The disease of (terrorism) has been diagnosed in a wrong way. Whenever any incident of terrorism happens, there is an effort to link it to Muslims or those studying in madrassas," he said.

"This is totally wrong. I must emphasize that the real disease must be diagnosed, then only is the cure possible," Siddique said.

Muslim scholars decry terrorism - BBC News

An influential group of Muslim theologians in India have denounced terrorism, saying it is completely against the teachings of Islam.

Their statements were made at a meeting held at the Darul-Uloom Deoband, a powerful Islamic school more than 150 years old.

Scholars from 6,000 religious schools attended the meeting.

The Deoband school promotes a brand of Islam which some say was an inspiration to Afghanistan's Taleban.

The school has always denied this.

Opening the conclave the head of the Deoband school, Maulana Marghoobur Rahman, described terrorism as a thoughtless act which is against the teachings of Islam.

He said that the killing of innocent people of any religion was prohibited by the Koran, the Muslim Holy Book.

Many participants said they want to change popular perceptions in which, they say, terrorism is being equated with Islam.

Others said that while Muslims should not be harassed because of anti-terrorism operations, the community also needed to be more introspective.

Many Islamic seminaries across India have come under the scanner of the federal authorities in the wake of recent terror attacks.

Set up in 1866 in north India the Darul-Uloom Deoband is the most influential Muslim religious school in south and south-east Asia.

Interview with former Knesset Leader: 'We Are Such an Angry People'

http://www.spiegel.de/international/w...

SPIEGEL: Mr. Burg, a majority of Israelis voted for right-wing parties, and now Benjamin Netanyahu is prime-minister designate. As someone who supports the Israeli left, are you feeling a bit lonely these days? Burg: I feel I am losing my political, ideological and spiritual home. My political home today, the Meretz party, shrank to only three seats in the Knesset. As an Israeli I feel lost because so many of my fellow countrymen are in love with war -- as the solution for everything. But the most existential loss is spiritual: For me, being a Jew is being a universalist, a humanist. I can't understand any Jew who votes right-wing. I can't understand how a Jew can speak a language of xenophobia. And yet so many of them just did. SPIEGEL: You're referring primarily to the ultranationalist Avigdor Lieberman, whose Israel Beytenu Party became the third-strongest in Israel's parliament. Burg: If you had told me 20 years ago that a day would come when this racist ideology would be represented with 15 seats in the Knesset, I would have said that was impossible. Now it's as if the crossing of this red line were natural. Lieberman doesn't talk about the West Bank and the borders of 1967. He brings us back to 1948, when tens of thousands of Palestinians were expelled from their homes. Now Lieberman wants the remaining Israeli-Arabs to leave the Jewish state. SPIEGEL: How could an election result like this have happened? Burg: The Israeli society has been kidnapped by the settler movement, which follows a one-state solution of the biblical Eretz Israel. Likewise, the Palestinians were kidnapped by Hamas, which follows the Greater Palestine vision on the basis of the Islamic sharia law. And in both societies there is kind of a Stockholm syndrome: We have affection for our abusers. SPIEGEL: You wrote that you would consider emigrating if the idea of expelling Israeli-Arabs were to become a government policy. Have you started packing your suitcase? Burg: ...

In a SPIEGEL interview, former Knesset president Avraham Burg discusses the right-wing surge in elections, the "monopoly of the Holocaust" on Israelis' everyday lives and opportunities missed by the Palestinians and Israel.

Avraham Burg, 54, served as spokesman of the Knesset from 1999 to 2003. His father Josef was born in the German city of Dresden, survived the Holocaust and later served as a minister in the cabinet of former Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin. In his book, "The Holocaust Is Over We Must Rise from Its Ashes," Burg questions some of the central theses of Israel's self- identity.

SPIEGEL: Mr. Burg, a majority of Israelis voted for right-wing parties, and now Benjamin Netanyahu is prime-minister designate. As someone who supports the Israeli left, are you feeling a bit lonely these days?

Burg: I feel I am losing my political, ideological and spiritual home. My political home today, the Meretz party, shrank to only three seats in the Knesset. As an Israeli I feel lost because so many of my fellow countrymen are in love with war -- as the solution for everything. But the most existential loss is spiritual: For me, being a Jew is being a universalist, a humanist. I can't understand any Jew who votes right-wing. I can't understand how a Jew can speak a language of xenophobia. And yet so many of them just did.

SPIEGEL: You're referring primarily to the ultranationalist Avigdor Lieberman, whose Israel Beytenu Party became the third-strongest in Israel's parliament.

Burg: If you had told me 20 years ago that a day would come when this racist ideology would be represented with 15 seats in the Knesset, I would have said that was impossible. Now it's as if the crossing of this red line were natural. Lieberman doesn't talk about the West Bank and the borders of 1967. He brings us back to 1948, when tens of thousands of Palestinians were expelled from their homes. Now Lieberman wants the remaining Israeli-Arabs to leave the Jewish state.

SPIEGEL: How could an election result like this have happened?

Burg: The Israeli society has been kidnapped by the settler movement, which follows a one-state solution of the biblical Eretz Israel. Likewise, the Palestinians were kidnapped by Hamas, which follows the Greater Palestine vision on the basis of the Islamic sharia law. And in both societies there is kind of a Stockholm syndrome: We have affection for our abusers.

SPIEGEL: You wrote that you would consider emigrating if the idea of expelling Israeli-Arabs were to become a government policy. Have you started packing your suitcase?

Burg: No. I try to calm myself by drawing a new red line: Lieberman is not yet the prime minister, he is not yet the majority. I still have hope. Let me use a metaphor: I was there at the delivery room when my children were born. Each time, I asked myself: How can it be that it takes so much pain and so much blood for such a beautiful thing to arrive in this world? The crisis in Israel could be a chance. One of the reasons Lieberman was able to become what he is today lies in the fact that nobody objected to him. Now I feel that a new moral elite could be born in Israel. Lieberman is part of the pain. But time is working against us. The days of the two-state solution, the co-existence between Israel and a sovereign Palestine that we are striving for, are numbered.

SPIEGEL: At least Tzipi Livni's centrist Kadima party will now be the largest in parliament. Livni wants to continue negotiations towards a two-state solution.

Burg: And how does she plan to do that with Netanyahu sitting at the cabinet table?

SPIEGEL: The peace treaty with Egypt, Israel's most important, was negotiated by the right.

Burg: But the idea of "Land for Peace" came from the left. It was only implemented by the right.

SPIEGEL: But the left failed with the Oslo peace process.

Burg: Oslo itself was a great event. For the first time, the two sides met on the basis of a vision of a two-state solution. The mistake behind the creation of the Palestinian entity was that it was more a real estate arrangement and not the beginning of a reconciliation between two enemies. And between the time of Oslo in 1994 and Camp David in 2000, Israel doubled the presence of the settlements in the occupied territories. For the Palestinians, that's the icon of occupation. At the same time, the Palestinians did not put an end to incitement and the culture of hatred in the mosques and schools -- so the collision was inevitable.

SPIEGEL: With the victory of the Israeli right during the election, the unilateral approach of former Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, who led the withdrawal from the Gaza Strip in 2005, also failed.

Burg: The notion that there is "no partner" was invented by Ehud Barak and the Labour Party after the failure of Camp David. It was also the left that started to plan the separation wall.

SPIEGEL: You were once a prominent member of the Labour Party. You might have become prime minister one day. Why did you leave politics?

Burg: I felt the political walls were closing in on me. I had to make too many compromises. Instead of developing visions, I only thought of the next press release. I realized that Israel is a very efficient kingdom with no prophecy, without any direction.

SPIEGEL: The reason for this, you argue in your book, "The Holocaust Is Over: We Must Rise from Its Ashes," is the "absolute monopoly of the Holocaust on every aspect of our lives." What do you mean by that?

Burg: Israel is like an abused child who becomes a violent parent. If there is a collective like the Jews which was so brutally abused, is it possible that this collective will never be able to liberate itself from the trauma? Is it possible that this nation will never get out of this vicious circle? I at least do my utmost to help us get out of the trauma.

SPIEGEL: "The Shoah is more present in our lives than God," you wrote. That sounds like blasphemy.

Burg: How can the truth be blasphemous? Everything is constantly compared to the Shoah. Take Netanyahu. He compared Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinedjad to Hitler.

SPIEGEL: You don't think that the Iranian regime is threatening Israel's existence?

Burg: I do, but if everything is compared to the Holocaust, then you would also have to reject the alternative offered by US President Barack Obama for a diplomatic process and take immediate harsh measures to prevent the next Holocaust. Moreover, when you use the Holocaust as a total example to compare everything against, by the end of the day you annihilate so many things. You say to yourself, Gaza? Well, it was not nice, but it wasn't the gas chambers, either. This is the logic: Because nothing is the Holocaust, everything is permitted.

SPIEGEL: But you also use these comparisons. You write that Israel is deteriorating like the latter days of the Weimar Republic. You ask what the actual difference is between the Nazi's, who screamed "Juden raus" (Jews get out), and Israelis who are yelling "Arabs get out."

Burg: In Hebrew, there's a saying: "Lets not wash the dirty laundry outside." But because the international media is watching Israel so closely, we don't even do laundry inside our homes any more. After a while, it starts to stink.

SPIEGEL: You write that: "Present-day Israel and its ways contribute to the rise in hatred against Jews." How would your father, a Holocaust survivor from Dresden, have responded to a sentence like that?

Burg: My father used to tell us that the two most important writings that shaped the politics of the Jewish people were published in Germany: Theodor Herzl's "Old New Land" and Hitler's "Mein Kampf". In Germany at the time, there was a dramatic race between the liberal spirit and national trauma. Eventually, the trauma won. In Israel we have the same competition pitting the greatest hope against the deepest trauma. From my father I took this message: Make sure that hope wins this time.

SPIEGEL: "The guilt complex over the Shoah," you argue in your book, "created a national obsession of exaggerated securitism that often morphs into primitive belligerence."

Burg: We are such an angry people, we are so aggressive.

SPIEGEL: Israel tolerated rocket attacks on its people for eight years before it went to war against Hamas in Gaza.

Burg: The rocket shooting was intolerable for the people of the south. But let me remind you: In five out of the eight years, we were the occupiers of Gaza. So in eight years a couple of thousands of rockets, around 30 people were killed and many were traumatized. And you therefore kill a thousand and demolish a region? Where are the proportions?

SPIEGEL: Israel left Gaza in 2005. Instead of building up the coastal strip, though, Hamas continued to shoot. It seems that former Israeli Foreign Minister Abba Eban was right when he said: The Palestinians never miss an opportunity to miss an opportunity.

Burg: We Israelis are world champions of missed opportunities as well. First we didn't want to talk to the Palestine Liberation Organization. Later we did. Now history is repeating itself with Hamas. On the day Gaza becomes a stronghold of al-Qaida, we will discover that Hamas was not that awful after all.

Interview conducted by Christoph Schult

May peace and love be with you.

The Nobel Peace Prize for 2006

The Norwegian Nobel Committee has decided to award the Nobel Peace Prize for 2006, divided into two equal parts, to Muhammad Yunus and Grameen Bank for their efforts to create economic and social development from below. Lasting peace can not be achieved unless large population groups find ways in which to break out of poverty. Micro-credit is one such means. Development from below also serves to advance democracy and human rights.

Muhammad Yunus has shown himself to be a leader who has managed to translate visions into practical action for the benefit of millions of people, not only in Bangladesh, but also in many other countries. Loans to poor people without any financial security had appeared to be an impossible idea. From modest beginnings three decades ago, Yunus has, first and foremost through Grameen Bank, developed micro-credit into an ever more important instrument in the struggle against poverty. Grameen Bank has been a source of ideas and models for the many institutions in the field of micro-credit that have sprung up around the world.

Every single individual on earth has both the potential and the right to live a decent life. Across cultures and civilizations, Yunus and Grameen Bank have shown that even the poorest of the poor can work to bring about their own development.

Micro-credit has proved to be an important liberating force in societies where women in particular have to struggle against repressive social and economic conditions. Economic growth and political democracy can not achieve their full potential unless the female half of humanity participates on an equal footing with the male.

Yunus's long-term vision is to eliminate poverty in the world. That vision can not be realised by means of micro-credit alone. But Muhammad Yunus and Grameen Bank have shown that, in the continuing efforts to achieve it, micro-credit must play a major part.

Oslo, 13 October 2006

British Muslims call for tolerance

By Daphna Vardi · January 16, 2009

LONDON (JTA) -- A group of prominent British Muslims called on co-religionists to help prevent attacks on Jews.

The letter, signed by 20 leading imams, writers, academics and community activists, was timed to arrive at 1,200 mosques and Islamic centers around Britain on Friday, the Muslim day of worship.

Referring to a recent arson attack on a synagogue in North London, the letter says: "We unreservedly condemn attacks on innocent British citizens and the desecration of all places of worship."

The letter calls on fellow Muslims "to remain vigilant against attempts to bring our own faith and community into disrepute."  It concludes: "British Jews should not be held responsible for the actions of the Israeli government."

The Board of Deputies of British Jews, the representative body of the Jewish community in Britain, issued a statement welcoming "the moral clarity, courage and vision shown by many leading British Muslims in their statement condemning the wave of anti-Semitic hatred that British Jews have suffered during the course of the terrible conflict in Gaza."

It is no surprise to me that Muslims are condemning acts of anti-Semitism. There will always be good people in all religions who believe in peace, love and tolerance and Islam is no exception despite what many would like us to believe.  Well done to everyone who is speaking out against all the acts of aggression that are being perpetrated on people.

This next report is a very sad report.  Peace loving Jews are actually being attacked by Zionist Jews! 

I would like to say this is surprising to me but to be honest it is not.  I have seen enough footage of the RW Zionist behaviour in Israel/Palestine to know that there are some violent and hateful people amongst them.

British Jews attacked for pro-Gaza solidarity

By Emily Dugan
Sunday, 18 January 2009

British Jews have been attacked for expressing support for Palestinians suffering under Israeli military strikes in Gaza. Police confirmed yesterday that they have provided protection to a number of people believed to be victims of UK-based Zionist Jew extremists angered by expressions of solidarity with Palestinians.  The past two weeks has seen aggression within the Jewish community towards those sympathetic to the plight of Gaza.........

I have seen a lot of Christian, Jewish and Muslim racism directed towards either Israelis or the Palestinians in various protests around the world.  I must say some of the protests were extremely sickening.  Here are two such protests:

Certainly some interesting, ill informed and racist comments in that video.

Just one example: 

"They (Israel) need to continue until they wipe them all out."

Hmmm I guess it is only wrong if someone was to suggest that about Israel, but perfectly fine to suggest wiping out all of the Palestinians or to remove them like a cancer as another Jewish woman suggested.
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This anti-Israel protest was in France and apparently the crowd was chanting "Death to Jews" and "Israel is a terrorist, criminal, barbaric and Nazi nation."  So here we have another protest seemingly spreading more hate.

You wouldn’t find me at either of those protests. 

I wouldn’t be at a pro-Israel, anti-Israel, pro-Palestinian or an anti-Palestinian protest. 

I would be at an Israeli/Palestinian peace rally along side the people who want peace for both the Israelis and the Palestinians.

I would be:

 With the Israelis who gather every week to demand their country halt its assault and end the siege.

Anti war demonstration in Tel Aviv

With those like Nomika Zion in southern Gaza who, despite living terrified under rocket fire, stand up to say "Not in my name...The bloodbath in Gaza is not in my name nor for my security."

Supporting the group "Other Voice", made up of Israelis living under the threat of qassams

Standing by the Israeli soldiers who refuse to fight this civilian population

Israelis Soldiers refuse to serve in Gaza

Supporting the ISRAEL'S YOUNG CONSCIENTIOUS OBJECTORS. The Shministim are Israeli high school students who have been imprisoned for refusing to serve in an army that occupies the Palestinian Territories.

Israeli Conscientious Objectors, Shministim, Send letter www.december18th.org

If I could I would be joining protests such as these in New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, and elsewhere.

Congratulating the Jewish women who held a sit-in the Israeli consulate in Toronto, telling the Israeli authorities that "we'll end our occupation when you end yours."

Continuing my support for Jewish Voice for Peace

Supporting the Palestinian organisations working for peace.  These include:

The Palestinian National Initiative;

The Palestinian Center for Rapprochement;

The Holy Land Trust in Bethlehem;

The Palestinian Center for Human Rights;

The Independent Commission for Human Rights (ICHR);

and the Jerusalem Center for Women.

These are just a few of the Palestinian organisations working for peace.

While the US media was focusing on its historical election on November 4^th 2008, Israeli troops killed six Hamas gunmen in a raid into the Gaza Strip and by doing so broke the four month truce between Israel and Hamas.  The cynic in me would say that Israel may have taken advantage of the timing, as it wouldn’t be the first time a government or an organisation has taken advantage of a major distraction in order to carry out an action with little scrutiny.

The incident occurred as follows: Israeli troops crossed into the Gaza Strip late at night near the town of Deir al-Balah. The Israeli military said the target of the raid was a tunnel that they said Hamas was planning to use to capture Israeli soldiers positioned on the border fence 250m away. Four Israeli soldiers were injured in the operation.  One Hamas gunman was killed and Palestinians launched a volley of mortars at the Israeli military. An Israeli air strike then killed five more Hamas fighters. In response, Hamas launched 35 rockets into southern Israel and no one was injured. The violence represented the most serious break in a ceasefire agreed in mid-June.

The major U.S. news wire Associated Press (AP) reported the attack, which threatened the ceasefire, but the report was carried by only a handful of small newspapers around the country.  The November 4th raid also appears to have been unreported by the major U.S. television news programmes which is a concern given that about 70 percent of U.S. citizens say their main source of international news comes via television news.

When the incident was reported in the US, the news outlets failed to report the possible significance of the raid. In comparison a number of English language foreign news organisations did publish articles suggesting that the raid may have jeopardised the ceasefire (Lull Arrangment**). Examples include: Britain’s Guardian and the Independent, Canada’s Canwest, and Australia’s The Age.

Because this raid into Gazan territory went virtually unreported in the US it has been easy for Israel to place the blame on the broken ceasefire solely on Hamas.  It has been very easy for public opinion to be swayed into having the opinion that, Israel has every right to defend itself from hostile attack. This is an opinion that has been widely expressed throughout the media, on blogs, in chat rooms and in comments sections of news articles.  It is true Israel does have that right, but so too does Gaza have the right to protect itself from hostile attacks into its territory.

The United Nations charter preserved the customary right of a state to retaliate against an "armed attack" from another state. The right has evolved to cover nonstate actors operating beyond the borders of the state claiming self-defense, and arguably would apply to Hamas. However, an armed attack involves serious violations of the peace. Minor border skirmishes are common, and if all were considered armed attacks, states could easily exploit them -- as surrounding facts are often murky and unverifiable -- to launch wars of aggression. That is exactly what Israel seems to be currently attempting.  Israel had not suffered an "armed attack" immediately prior to its bombardment of the Gaza Strip.  Israel cannot claim self-defense against this escalation, because it was provoked by Israel's own violation.   An armed attack that is not justified by self-defense is a war of aggression. Under the Nuremberg Principles affirmed by U.N. Resolution 95, aggression is a crime against peace. (Read Professor George E Bisharat’s opinion piece in the Wall Street Journal for the International legalities of this current conflict)

It is unfortunate that the game of “tit for tat” between Israel and Hamas then escalated out of control.  Hamas increased rocket fire, Israel responded with Air Force attacks, firing at Hamas and other squads within the Gaza Strip near the border. In return Hamas responded with rocket fire to retaliate for their losses and continued daily sporadic fire, to which Israel closed the border crossings, exerting pressure on Hamas and the Gaza Strip residents. That led to shortages of basic goods in the Gaza Strip and to disruptions in the supply of various types of fuel; however the electrical power was not cut off.   Hamas stated that it would end the Lull Arrangement with Israel on December 19^th citing that the arrangement had been seriously eroded since November 4^th.  Days after the end of the ceasefire Hamas launched 80 rockets against Israel in one day.  No Israeli was killed or injured, however Israel then decided to launch a full scale military campaign in Gaza. 

It is a sad indictment on many US media outlets that they failed to report the end of the Lull Arrangement accurately.  When Israel launched its current military offensive against Gaza on the 27^th December, most major US media outlets blamed Hamas for breaking the ceasefire on Israeli territory and refusing to extend the ceasefire on its current terms beyond its formal December 19^th expiration.

The lead editorial in the Washington Post the day after Israel began its massive air assault stated, "Israel's air offensive against the Gaza Strip yesterday should not have been a surprise for anyone who has been following the mounting hostilities in the region, least of all the Hamas movement, which invited the conflict by ending a six-month-old ceasefire and launching scores of rockets and mortar shells at Israel during the last 10 days."

In an appearance on NBC's talk show 'Meet the Press', Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni, also a candidate for prime minister in the Israeli February 10^th elections, stated a very one sided view of the events leading up to the Israeli assault, “About a half a year ago, according to the Egyptian Initiative, we decided to enter a kind of a truce and not to attack Gaza Strip.  Hamas violated, on a daily basis, this truce. They targeted Israel, and we didn't answer."  

It should be noted that the view of Livni flies in the face of the truth as reported by the Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center of Israel which reports that up until the 4^th November Hamas was careful to maintain the ceasefire (see below under “The Lull Arrangement”)

See the following article for more information: US-MIDEAST: Media Eyeless in Gaza at Key Moment

The Israeli assault on Gaza has now caused the death around 1000 Palestinians; around 4400 Palestinians have been injured and there has been an immense loss of property, leaving tens of thousands of Gaza’s citizens homeless.   The toll is still climbing.  Around two-thirds of Gaza’s 1.5 million people have no electricity, and 500,000 have no access to running water. The World Food Programme says it’s providing aid to 80 percent of Gaza’s residents.  Both Israel and Hamas must agree to a ceasefire to prevent anymore needless casualties.

This current Israeli military campaign will not bring peace to Israel.  This operation and continued oppression through the ongoing siege of Gaza will continue to radicalise the youth of Gaza, providing Hamas with an endless supply of recruits.

For peace to occur many things will need to happen.

Past acts of aggression and harm will need to be acknowledged so that emotional healing can begin.

All parties will need to accept that all citizens have a right to live in peace with proper facilities.

All sides of this conflict will have to stop the violence and establish a sense of trust.

As trust is developed Israel will have to relax the siege situation in Gaza and open the borders and make travel for Gazans hassle free.

Hamas was elected by a democratic process and the world’s governments need to recognise this fact.  However in return Hamas has to behave like an elected government and govern for the best welfare of its citizens and that means it must not allow actions which can be interpreted as acts of terrorism.

Israel will need to continue to remove illegal settlements.

All parties need to be honest with their reporting and stop the false propaganda campaigns.

Other countries need to stop playing favourites and treat Israel and Palestine fairly and even-handedly.

All media outlets both domestic and international have a responsibility to report the facts and not omit essential facts.

International special interest groups who do not have the best interests of the Israelis and the Palestinians in mind need to butt out.

Fundamentalist religious groups (Christians, Muslims and Jews) will need to stop fighting over pieces of so called Holy Land.

The list for a lasting peace between Israel and Palestine is of course immense, but if all parties embrace the true spirit of reconciliation then peace is possible.

** The lull arrangement was based on unwritten understandings and called for the cessation of the fighting in the Gaza Strip. Hamas committed itself to enforce the arrangement on the other Palestinian terrorist organizations which had not expressed their opposition (some organizations opposed it, some were reserved). The cessation of the fighting was supposed to lead to the opening of the crossings between the Gaza Strip and Israel, to initiate negotiations for the release of Gilad Shalit, the abducted Israeli soldier, and to lead to discussions about the opening of the Rafah crossing between the Gaza Strip and Egypt  

The lull arrangement brought relative quiet to the western Negev population and the Gaza Strip during its first months. As of June 19, there was a marked reduction in the extent of attacks on the western Negev population. The lull was sporadically violated by rocket and mortar shell fire, carried out by rogue terrorist organizations, in some instance in defiance of Hamas (especially by Fatah and Al-Qaeda supporters). Hamas was careful to maintain the ceasefire. The IDF refrained from undertaking counterterrorism activities in the Gaza Strip, taking only routine defensive security measures along the border fence. Between June 19 and November 4, 20 rockets (three of which fell inside the Gaza Strip) and 18 mortar shells (five of which fell inside the Gaza Strip) were fired at Israel   That was significantly fewer than the rockets and mortar shells fired during the six months preceding the lull, during which 2,278 rockets and mortar shells were launched (an average of 380 a month).  During the lull the crossings between Israel and the Gaza Strip were open most of the time (Israel closed them for short intervals in response to rocket fire). Scores of trucks delivered large quantities of consumer goods through the Karni and Sufa (and later Kerem Shalom) crossings on a daily basis, including supplies of commodities Israel had previously not permitted into the Gaza Strip, such as cement and iron. Hamas leaders admitted that there was an improvement in the supply of goods and that civilian life was returning to normal. Life also returned to normal in the western Negev towns and villages for the first time in the period preceding the lull.

We have seen some very nasty displays as the US election draws closer.  Rather than show more negative attitudes I wanted to show some examples of voicing an opinion or opposing a negative reaction in a reasonable and non-violent manner.

This first one is from the UK.  In July of this year Bishop Gene Robinson who is gay and has a same sex partner had started his sermon at a church in Putney Sth London when a protester rose and shouted down Bishop Robinson. 

Parishioners protested the heckler first with clapping hands, then with voices joined in a hymn of praise, "Thine be the glory, risen, conquering son" . There was no shouting back and no shoving and the protester was gently escorted out. When the incident was over, Bishop Robinson continued. "Pray for that man," he said. 

Link to Original BBC video and an Article.

Please note: I have not posted this clip as a statement in regards to gay rights.

This next example is the Alaskan Women Against Sarah Palin rally held in September.  I was hoping to have the video of just the interviews with some of the women at the protest, but I could only find this one that also has the report about the opposition to the rally.  The rally starts 5 minutes into the video.  However the first 5 minutes is worth watching, as it gives a contrast between the attitude of some of the people against the rally and the women who took part in the rally.

I haven’t posted this video to say Anti-Palin supporters are more civil than Pro-Palin supporters, but to display people who are expressing their concerns in a reasonable manner without the rhetoric.

One protester does make mention of Palin in regards to banning books, from what I have read there is no conclusive proof that this actually occurred.

At a McCain rally in Virginia, three people were handing out "Obama for Change" bumper stickers with the Communist sickle and hammer and the Islamic crescent, saying Obama was a socialist with ties to radical Islam. Several McCain supporters, Muslim and Christian alike, challenged the people distributing the propaganda.  They were also challenged by Daniel Zubairi, a Muslim McCain grassroots organiser in Woodbridge, Virginia who explained to them that the campaign didn't "endorse that behaviour,"  Eventually the people handing out the propaganda left the rally.

There have been some cynics who have said that this whole exercise was probably staged so that the McCain campaign didn’t appear to be racist.  I have no idea if that is the case, however staged or not staged it is still an example to all on how to properly conduct oneself in such a situation.  Be firm and assertive and try not to be aggressive.

I know I have stuffed up on a number of occasions and lost my cool here at Vox. I believe we can all learn something from these examples.