Todd Beamer 9/11/2001: heroism
The Challenge of Terrorism: A Traveling Essay: "Avoid doing what they expect..."
John Paul Lederach wrote this while waiting in airports on his way home after September 11th.
The Wicked and Awesome Cruelty of a Crushed and Humiliated People, (by Robert Fisk, 9/12/01, London Independent)
"I am suffering: I want you to know it."
Thich Nat Hanh, Address at the Riverside Church, New York City, September 26, 2001
Rest in Peace, a prayer by Thich Nat Hanh
Hope Flowers School, Bethlehem. Report from Gene Sandretto, October, 2001
Spring, 2002
Marla Shrader in Bethlehem, 4/7/2002: Letter and Photos
"Forgiveness and reconciliation... are realpolitik" Archibiship Desmond Tutu quoted
at forgiving.org
Stanford Forgiveness Project:
Northern Irish on both sides find help: from Hatred to Hope and Healing and Learning to Forgive
Fall, 2003
The Importance of Losing, by Jonathan Schell (9/2003)
See also, his new book, The Unconquerable World:Power, Non-Violence, and the Will of the People
Opportunity International: "Giving the Poor a Working Chance"
The Grameen Bank: Banking for the Poor: A system based on mutual trust that has 2 million borrowers and a 98% loan payback rate.
Porto Alegre, Brazil: A city that is trying to reinvent itself. (The 2001-2003 World Social Forums were held in Porto Alegre.)
Empowered Individuals:
Hear this conversation between an Israeli and a Palestinian, who both believe that the only permanent solution to the struggle between their two peoples is one forged through non-violent means. Elhanan's 14 year old daughter was murdered in 1997, a victim of a suicide bomber. Hanan Ashwari is a prominent Palestinian leader. This interview, conducted on July 1, 2002, by Amy Goodman for her radio show, Democracy Now.
Print out and then read this remarkable September 13, 2000 interview with Shlomo Ben-Ami, chief Israeli negotiator for Barak, reflecting on the peace talks about two weeks before the present intifada would flare up after Ariel Sharon's visit with 1000 police to the Temple Mount. At the every end, he admits to some understanding of the logic of the other side:
"Yes. Intellectually, I can understand their logic. I understand that from their point of view, they ceded 78 percent [of historic Palestine] at Oslo, so the rest is theirs. I understand that from their point of view,the process is one of decolonization, and therefore they are not going to make a compromise with us, just as the residents of Congo would not compromise with the Belgians." Then he goes on to describe his feeling that there's something "pathological" about the Palestinian leadership.
Alan sent on a Chomsky interview posted on ZNET, 4/2/02, in which Ben-Ami is quoted in 1998 as saying the following:
"In practice, the Oslo agreements were founded on a neo-colonialist basis, on a life of dependence of one on the other forever." With these goals, the Clinton-Rabin-Peres agreements were designed to impose on the Palestinians "almost total dependence on Israel," creating "an extended colonial situation," which is expected to be the "permanent basis" for "a situation of dependence."
I've been able to find no maps of the Clinton plan as it existed in January, 2002, just before George W. Bush took over, and disavowed the effort. But the Jewish Virtual Library does offer this map, called the "Abu Mazen-Beilen Plan". Whosever proposal this map reflects, it does not seem to conform to Chomsky's description of a Bantustan-like Palestinian state. If anyone can point us to information about the state of the "map" as it existed at the end of the negotiations, I've love to see it, and finally learn the truth about the exact nature of the proposals on the table.
Israeli settlers on the West Bank are a huge problem: I see no indication that the Sharon government is prepared to bring them home under any circumstances, creating a situation similar to Northern Ireland or the Balkans, where imperial powers (England and the Ottomans respectively) settled friendly populations amidst a sea of "colonials" in order to control territory.
For more on Israeli settlements on the West Bank, see Foundation for Middle East Peace report.
For "Why Israelis support Mr. Sharon", see this piece by editor of The Jerusalem Post. Mr. Horovitz rejects the idea that "ending the occupation" will end the bombings. because he believes hatred toward Israel is based its existence rather than on any particular Israeli policy. On the other hand, one gets little sense that Horovitz has looked the cruel reality of the 35 year-old occupation in the face, and come to terms with its consequence for both Israel and the Palestinians.
See also contrasting views of what really happened at Camp David in 2000. (President Bush did not resume talks when he assumed the presidency in January, 2001).
Foundation for Middle East Peace interviews with Ehud Barak and others on subject of "who is responsible for failure?".
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