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Diverse trio running for mayor in troubled Jerusalem

It sounds like the beginning of a joke: A rabbi, a Russian oligarch and a high-tech millionaire are running for mayor of Jerusalem. Except there's no punch line, just each of them offering up himself as salvation for the hallowed capital's many troubles.

More Jewish teens attacked in Paris, Adelson gives $30 million to Birthright

Three Jewish teenagers were attacked in the same Paris district where another Jewish teen was beaten severely in June.

The latest pledge consists of a $20 million contribution for 2009 and $10 million for 2010, said Michael Bohnen, president of the Adelson Foundation, in a news release Tuesday announcing the gift.

This whole blog business is new to me


Quiet war on campus: Israel remains under attack despite fewer public protests

While she worked bringing pro-Israel speakers and programs to campuses, Davoodi also built up quite a collection of fliers claiming Zionists are the new Nazis, that the 'Israel lobby' has hijacked American foreign policy and the Jewish state is built on a mounds of lies and Palestinian bones.

Stop and smell the roses in Pakistan

As an Egyptian whose country's military dictators are either taken by God or an assassin's bullet, I envy the Pakistani people's ability to now use the term, "former president."

Film about interfaith lovers takes Shakespearian turn

In "David and Fatima," the Montague and the Capulet clans become the Aziz and the Isaacs, setting the stage for a battle of the two faiths

Hi-Lo

What you get instead is a God's eye view of the Holy Land: close enough to see day-to-day life, far enough not to get involved -- just like God.

The transformation of Israeli food—from falafel to fennel

The 60th anniversary of the State of Israel is a good time to reflect on how this young country has progressed during its mere six decades of existence. Its economic growth, its leading role in technological advances and its presence in world affairs are all impressive, but most notable to me is the transformation of Israeli food from mundane and unknown to cutting edge and creative. Modern-day Israeli cuisine reflects ethnic, cultural, and religious diversity.

Paradoxes characterize life in Israel

To be an Israeli at the time of the state's 60th anniversary means to be resigned to living with insoluble emotional and political paradoxes. It means living with a growing fear of mortality, even as we celebrate our ability to outlive every threat. We are almost certainly the only nation that marks its Independence Day with an annual poll that invariably includes the question: "Do you believe the country will still exist 50 years from now?"

Through the looking glass with Friends of Sabeel

Covering a meeting of Friends of Sabeel is a strange experience. "Strange" as in walking through the looking glass and encountering a reverse universe on the other side.


Israelis are not in a partying mood

Israel is turning 60, but few here in the Jewish State seem in the mood to crack open the champagne.


Israelis are still gloomy about the country's perceived failures in the 2006 war with Hezbollah in Lebanon, and every day brings fresh reminders that no solution has been found for the growing problem of cross-border rocket fire from the Gaza Strip.

Debra Winger explores Jewish/Arab day schools

Students at the Hand in Hand Max Rayne Bilingual School in Jerusalem didn't know they were meeting a celebrity. They weren't born when the films "Officer and a Gentleman" and "Terms of Endearment" garnered Debra Winger her Oscar nominations.

The other refugees

Is there a more loaded word in the Arab-Israeli conflict than "refugee"

The dreadful ‘D’ words

Divorce, dissolution, divestment: These are words that spell the end of a relationship and of what might have been -- through time and patience -- a meaningful and inspiring marriage.

Briefs: Some West Bank settlers would agree to leave, Israel OKs Palestinian police stations

Approximately one in five Israelis living east of the West Bank security fence would leave if offered government support, a poll found. According to an internal government study, whose results were leaked Tuesday to Yediot Achronot, approximately 15,000 of the 70,000 settlers whose communities are not taken in by the fence would accept voluntary relocation packages.

Arab Israeli woman joins air force by mistake


Livni asks Arab moderates for help with peace process

Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni flew to the Qatari capital of Doha in the Persian Gulf this week with an ambitious goal: changing moderate Arab attitudes toward Israel.

In Tunisia, Jews enjoy stability, but not democracy

In many ways Tunisia is unique in the Arab world. Tunisia's president promotes education and protects Tunisian Jews from the chaos and religious extremism enveloping much of North Africa. Tunisia has also played a very constructive and positive role in the Middle East peace process. However, stability in Tunisia -- for its Jews and for the country as a whole -- has come at the expense of democratic rights.

Bush’s Arab world tour significant for Israel

With its focus on strengthening the moderate Arab coalition against Iran, President Bush's tour of the Persian Gulf countries, Saudi Arabia and Egypt could prove extremely significant for Israel.

Family’s tale recounts Libyan Jewish dispersion

The opening line from the documentary "The Last Jews of Libya" begins a nostalgic visit to an ill-fated community of 25,000 people living between the Mediterranean Sea and North African desert at the dawn of World War II. It's a story we know too well -- pious, successful and family-oriented Jews living in coexistence with their neighbors suddenly become targets of racial hatred and are ultimately expelled or destroyed. Once in the United States, the immigrants struggle to find their place within an American Jewish life rooted firmly in Eastern European culture.

Hook-nosed, bloodstained Jews out to trick peaceful Arabs at Annapolis summit


OneVoice speaks mistakenly on achieving peace

Again and again, private organizations appear on the scene, promoting agendas designed to advance the peace process in the Middle East. In many cases, their intentions may be good; unfortunately, however, they generally lack a minimal understanding of the situation, and their programs and proposals are based on mistaken assumptions. As a result, their contribution to an easing of the prevailing tension between Israel and the Palestinian Arabs is of little or no value. An examination of one of these peace efforts, the OneVoice movement.

New Israel Fund renews local presence after four-year hiatus

Ronit Heyd, joined by Ilana Litvak, who came to Israel from the former Soviet Union, and Nidal Abed El Gafer, a Palestinian lawyer, were in Los Angeles last week as three "connected" Israelis, working to empower their country's underprivileged and raise the level of civic involvement. Their presence at a roundtable was sponsored by the New Israel Fund (NIF), which has just raised its Los Angeles profile by reestablishing a local office, after a four-year hiatus.

We have the right to an indivisible Jerusalem

Rabbi Dov Fischer responds to Rabbi Yosef Kanefsky's invitation to have a conversation about Jerusalem.

Jews and Palestinians talk peace under NorCal pines

The fifth annual Oseh Shalom-Sanea al-Salam Peacemakers Camp is an outgrowth of the Bay Area's many Jewish-Palestinian dialogue groups founded by Len and Libby Traubman of San Mateo. It was held Oct. 5-8, this year with an emphasis on youth and those already working in numerous peace and coexistence organizations. Groups like Combatants for Peace sent representatives, as did the village Neve Shalom/Wahat al-Salam, which consists of equal numbers of Arabs and Jews.

Films at L.A.‘s Outfest examines gay life in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem

"The Bubble" is one of two Israel-centered features scheduled for the 25th Outfest, Los Angeles' gay and lesbian film festival, July 12-23. The film is being shown in collaboration with Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion's Institute for Judaism and Sexual Orientation, as well as JQ International.

Can Olmert’s goodwill gestures kick-start peace?

Leaders on both sides are optimistic. They see Olmert's moves as part of a new and wider American plan for Israeli-Palestinian accommodation.

‘Dumb Jews’ react, more politics, more Israel

Reaction to "Dumb Jews" cover story and other letters to the Editor

Direct Hezbollah rocket hit leaves Israeli/Arab ‘peace school’ in pieces

The only school in Acre that serves both Jewish and Arab pupils -- the el-Mahaba, took a direct hit from a rocket during the war.

Al Qaeda urges Israel attacks; Israeli Arab lawmakers represent Hamas in court

Al Qaeda urges Israel attacks; Israeli Arab lawmakers represent Hamas in court; Conviction in Attack on Palestinians; BBC Ordered to Release Report; British Jews Meet on Security; Trump to Observant Jew: You're Hired; Babi Yar Event to be International; Danish Newspaper Publishes Holocaust Cartoons.





Letters to the Editor

Letters to the Editor.

Mideast Fighting Strains Fragile Interfaith Ties

Overall, though, Jewish-Muslim relations are strained, and tensions will likely worsen before getting better, predicts Rabbi John Rosove, senior rabbi at Temple Israel of Hollywood.

Protestors at Israeli Consulate Face Off Over Gaza Actions

The Israeli consulate has not been a site for demonstrations since the disengagement from Gaza last summer, and last Thursday's demonstration and counterdemonstration was relatively small -- perhaps attesting to general world support for the release of the kidnapped soldier.

Truth Trumps Presbyterian Divestment Resolution

Last week, delegates to the Presbyterian Church USA's (PCUSA) General Assembly in Birmingham, Ala., voted to undo their hateful 2004 anti-Israel divestment resolution.

Tommywood - A Peace of Music

As a Muslim and an Arab, playing in the homes of American families, Zade Dirani wanted to bring a message that culture could unite people. At the same time, he also wanted to send a message to his fellow Muslims and Arabs that, "You can be proud of your culture."

Seeing Red Over Green’s Israel Policy

Local leaders of the Green Party are working to overturn an anti-Israel resolution that has become official party policy.

At Save Darfur Rally: ‘Never Again, Again’

With the genocide in Darfur topping the Jewish community's national agenda, an unmistakable Jewish presence ran through Sunday's rally.

The Unsettling Struggle

Who is responsible for Israel's settlements in the territories? Gershom Gorenberg's just released history, "The Accidental Empire: Israel and the Birth of the Settlements, 1967-1977," explores in gripping narrative the original interweave of political ambition, religious entitlement and military strategy that led to today's continuing conflicts with both the settlers and the Palestinians.

‘Empire’ Conquers Monstrous Task

It is not accidental that Gershom Gorenberg limited his substantial study, "The Accidental Empire: Israel and the Birth of the Settlements, 1967-1977," to the first decade of the settler movement, for by 1977, when Menachem Begin and the right gained power for the first time in Israeli history, 80 settlements housing more than 11,000 Israelis already dotted the territories captured in the 1967 Six-Day War.

The Faces of War From Israel to Africa

Upcoming Photographic exhibitions.

Letters

Letters to the Editor

Teens Find Peace On and Off Stage

Peace Child Israel was founded in 1988 by the late Israeli actress Yael Drouyanoff and uses theater and other art forms to encourage dialogue between teens who might otherwise never meet. So far, seven groups have been formed, pairing Jewish and Arab towns throughout Israel, among them Misgav-Sakhnin, Raanana-Qalanswa, and East and West Jerusalem.

Clear Ideological Focus Marks Olmert

Olmert was one of the chief architects of Sharon's main foreign policy achievement -- last summer's withdrawal from the Gaza Strip and northern West Bank. When Sharon broke away last November from his ruling Likud Party to form a new centrist party, Kadima, Olmert was one of the first to follow him.

Cowboys & Indians

One thing that stands out is this: Hollywood is making Westerns again, but this time, the Indians are Arab.

I'm not talking about the early Hollywood Indian -- a cartoon bad guy or buffoon who spoke pigeon English and was played by a white guy.

Sowing Islamic Seeds in Students

Georgetown's Middle East outreach program is one of 18 affiliated with federally designated national resource centers, each of which receives hundreds of thousands of dollars in federal funds under Title VI of the Higher Education Act.

Delegation: Improve Israeli Arabs’ Status

A small group of American Jewish leaders that came to Israel recently is determined to put the issue of Israel's Arab minority higher on the American Jewish agenda.

Jordan King Courts U.S. Jews on Future

More than any other Arab leader -- and even more than his father, the late King Hussein -- Abdullah has attached his fate to the West.

Never Been Mugged

In the door pocket of my car I have one road atlas of Israel, one map of the streets of Tel Aviv, one map of the Galilee and, at last count, no fewer than five of Jerusalem. I am always apprehensive of taking the wrong road, and winding up where I might be perceived as an unwelcome intruder.

The Ties That Bind Two Schools of Faith

For the past four years, Kadosh and Alfi have been meeting regularly to exchange pedagogical advice, offer insight into each other's communities, pay visits to the other's turf and, above all, continually affirm how educators of different faiths can help each other.

These two women have formed a solid friendship, and whether or not that will eventually lead to an enduring bridge between Jewish and Arab educators in Los Angeles, they have set an important precedent.

Spectator - The Great ‘Wall’ of Israel

Simone Bitton, a French filmmaker who has made seven other documentaries about the histories and cultures of the Middle East and North Africa, considers herself an "Arab Jew."

Letters

Letters to the Editor on various subjects.

A Solution to Israel’s Demographic Peril

When Israeli Arabs protest that talk of the "demographic threat" is racist, can Israeli Jews blame them? If non-Jewish professors and politicians anywhere on earth spoke of a Jewish demographic threat to their countries, what would Jews call it? What, for that matter, would decent non-Jews call it?

Raising the specter of the Arab demographic threat to Israel is, in fact, racist -- if you believe that Zionism is racism, that a Jewish state is a racist state.

I don't believe that (even while I know there is no shortage of Jews whose Zionism doesn't amount to anything more than racism). Although the Jewish state by definition "belongs" to the Jews more than it does to its non-Jewish citizens, I don't consider it a force for racism, but the opposite: Whatever racism exists in Israel, the Jewish state came into being as an answer to racism of a rather larger magnitude -- the habit of anti-Semitic oppression.

Spectator - Music First,

Even during the tensest days of the intifada, the four Jewish and four Arab musicians of the SheshBesh ensemble performed before mixed -- and appreciative -- audiences.

The ensemble's fusion of western and Asian music and instruments can be heard Sunday, June 26, at Temple Israel of Hollywood, as part of the temple's Nimoy Concert Series.

Cooking Up a Meaningful Plot

Despite its title and the food, the play at The Met Theatre employs culinary arts not as an end, but a means to explore the complex and emotional Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Some See Signs as Pointing to Peace

With Palestinian terror groups generally committed to a lull in the fighting with Israel and Arab countries debating normalizing ties with the Jewish state, some in Israel see signs that the 57-year-old Arab-Israeli conflict finally may be winding down.

Druse Riot Against Christian Neighbors

Never before had the small church in the Galilee village of Mughar held so many important visitors as it did recently. Even the Vatican's representative in Israel, Monsignor Pietro Sambi, was there.

When Jews Wax Anti-Semitic

The expectation that a commentator's views must be in lockstep with his or her ethnic, religious or sexual identity is always distasteful -- particularly when blacks, women, gays or Jews are labeled "self-hating" when they refuse to toe the perceived party line.

After 10 Years, a Separate Peace

Ten years ago this week, in the midst of a desert storm in the Arava Valley, the late King Hussein of Jordan and the late Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin of Israel signed a peace accord ushering in an era of hope that relations between the neighbors would become a model for a new Middle East.

Israel, Russia Sign Memo on Terrorism

It was not clear what form the new Israeli-Russian cooperation would take.

A Mitzvah Is Its Arab-Israeli Enmity Vanishes at Hospital

To avoid being branded as a collaborator, most Palestinians would not admit to accepting aid from Israel. Samera bravely told her story to A-Sinara, the largest Arabic-language newspaper in the region. Her experience "was diametrically opposed to everything she'd been told," Larry Rich said.

Gaza Nostalgia

Back in the good old days, when I traveled freely though the Gaza Strip, Rafah was our neighboring village across a stretch of sand, my boss was Ahmad from Khan Yunis and stones were for building, not for throwing.

Your Letters

Your Letters

In ‘Control’

Gullibility cuts both ways. I try to remember this as I reflect on "Control Room," a fascinating documentary on the Arab news channel Al Jazeera.

Are Muslims Endangered?

Heightened ethnic and religious hatred might be rearing its ugly head in California -- but some politicians are eager to stand in its way.

View on Mideast ‘Embarrassing’

Recently former President Jimmy Carter spoke out about the Palestinian-Israeli conflict as he visited Texas.

Muslim Hate Is Self-Inflicted Harm

The Arab and Iranian complaint that they are threatened and victimized by the Zionists is fascinatingly twisted. In fact, they do themselves considerable damage through their own anti-Semitism. Two recent examples come to mind.


Your Letters

Having read your editorial commentary in this week's issue, I was tempted to turn back to the front page to reassure myself that I was not reading the editorial page of the Los Angeles Times ("Accord Allure," Dec. 5).

Community Briefs

Middle East expert and former CIA analyst Kenneth Pollack told an Anti-Defamation League (ADL) audience that Israel would have to endure an emboldened Arab terrorist culture and other brutal, long-lasting side effects if the U.S. withdraws from Iraq now.

Harvard Campaign Against Hate

Feeling frustrated about Arab anti-Semitism? Upset by people's insensitivity toward Jewish concerns? Think you're powerless to influence your school or community? Think again.

A group of Harvard students spoke out against hate speech in the Middle East, and, thanks to the support of the community, achieved results. I helped organize the group, and our efforts resulted in shutting down an Arab League think tank that distributes hate speech against Americans and Jews.

It all started last year when I was a student at Harvard Divinity School.

Targeted Killings’ Other Casualties

Killing Hamas leaders wounds the terrorist group, Israeli and Palestinian officials agree.

Settlements Plan Spotlights Dark Issues

The conventional explanation for Israel's more controversial measures, including, in particular, the security fence under construction and the new marriage law passed by the Knesset, is that these are responses to the ongoing conflict.

Times’ Shalhevet Article Is Not News

I have tried explaining it to friends outside Los Angeles. But the Los Angles Times of Sunday, Aug. 3, cannot be explained in words alone. One must have held the paper in hand to appreciate what appeared that day.

Building Bridges to Arab Town

The emerging ethnic commercial district, akin to better-established Little Saigon in Westminster and Los Angeles' Koreatown, is further evidence of the county's evolution from suburbia into a more diverse, urban environment.

After the Cease-Fire What Comes Next?

As Israel and the Palestinians begin a long-awaited truce, both sides are holding their breath -- and wondering what the United States will do next to advance the "road map" peace plan.

The Right of Return Goes Both Ways

Last week, a group called Justice for Jews from Arab Countries published a report documenting the human rights crisis facing Jews in that part of the world following the creation of Israel.

A Dangerous Triangle

Anti-Arab racism in France is fierce, and it comes in the form of social exclusion: relegation to "ghettos" (they borrow the term from us) on the outskirts of cities, rampant employment discrimination, police surveillance and control of identity papers and quasi-zero presence on French media.

Baklava and Bombs

Sami Michael, an Iraqi-born novelist who writes about the clash of Arab and Jewish cultures, knows what it's like to be a part of a beleaguered minority.

First Step in Removing Terror Regimes

Terrorism cannot be fought on one front and ignored on another. To defeat terrorism worldwide, America needs to be consistent and uncompromising. Kabul and Baghdad should be just the first steps.

The Aftermath

As I write these words, with our nation just over the brink of war, it is clear that once again the country is color-coded.

Mixing Science and Politics Brews Hate

It's bad enough that Israeli doctors are spending their lives in emergency rooms treating Jewish and Arab victims of suicide bombers. What really makes them heartsick these days, however, is that they also have to fend off mindless attacks from their scientific colleagues, particularly in Europe.

We arrived at Hadassah Hospital in Jerusalem, where some 2,000 victims have been treated during the current intifada, less than 24 hours after a particularly horrific bus bombing in Jerusalem. Hours earlier, teams of Jewish-Arab doctors had done what they've done for the past two years: jumped into action to save the lives of the critically injured.

Arab Accountability

When people hear about the conflict between Israelis and Palestinians, they assume that Israelis are white, European oppressors and that Palestinians are indigenous people of color being taken over and kicked out of their native home.

Fuel for the Fire

Funny how a massive attack on American shores, the devastating loss of 3,000 innocent lives, the U.S. invasion of one country (Afghanistan), the incipient invasion of another (Iraq) and the continued threat of biological, nuclear and random terror in our own neighborhoods can get people thinking.

How Oslo Harmed Israel

Nine years have passed since the signing of the Oslo accords on the White House lawn. Is Israel better off or worse off as a result of Oslo?

Terrorists in Old City

Since the intifada began two years ago, Jerusalem Mayor Ehud Olmert had boasted that Arab residents of eastern Jerusalem had opted to stay out of the violence for fear of losing Israeli social service benefits.

Making His Mark

On the afternoon of Monday, Sept. 4, American swimmer Mark Spitz won his seventh gold medal at the 1972 Olympic Games in Munich, and set his seventh consecutive world record. It was a feat unprecedented in Olympic history, and the handsome 22-year-old Californian became an instant international media celebrity, nowhere more so than in the Jewish press.

The Irrelevance of Arab Hatred

The consensus view of the intifada among Israelis, Diaspora Jews and American conservatives -- that it's caused by Arab hatred and rejection of Israel -- is nothing but a lousy excuse.

7 Days In Arts

7 Days In The Arts

Taking the West Bank Off the Chopping Block

The recent landslide vote of the Israeli Likud Party, utterly rejecting an Arab country west of the Jordan River, reflects the evolving mindset of the largest political party in Israel.

There Is No ‘Occupation’

Arab spokesmen regularly complain about what they call "the Israeli occupation" of the Judea-Samaria-Gaza territories. But the truth is that there is no such "Israeli occupation." To begin with, nearly all Palestinian Arabs currently live under Yasser Arafat's rule, not Israel's. Following the signing of the Oslo accords, the Israelis withdrew from nearly half of the territories, including the cities where 98.5 percent of Palestinian Arabs reside. The notion that the Palestinian Arabs are living under Israeli occupation is false. The areas from which Israel has not withdrawn are virtually uninhabited, except for the two percent where Israelis reside.

Differing Views on European Anti-Semitism

The talk here in Los Angeles -- about anti-Semitism and Europe -- is by turns angry and cynical. And not just from the proverbial "Jewish man on the street," so quick to respond both to real and imagined slights. It is almost as though the suspicion that Europeans could not be trusted, that they were fundamentally bred to the bone as anti-Semites, had finally been confirmed. A Jewish leader here, with considerable professional experience working with European organizations, is bitter: The Europeans need oil, he tells me, and the Arabs have it. The rest is conversation.

Sharonism vs. Building a Wall

Any attempt to resolve the crisis in the Middle East forces us -- the American people and American Jewry -- to appraise the motives and the ultimate goals of the leaders involved. Endless disputes have raged over whether Yasser Arafat and the other Arab leaders merely seek a Palestinian state living peacefully alongside Israel or whether they continue to harbor the ultimate goal of exterminating what they once derided as the "Zionist entity." But just as important, perhaps even more so, is reaching an understanding of the true goals of Israel's current Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and his close associates. They -- even more than their Arab opponents -- hold the fate of the Israeli people in their hands.

Saudi Plan Marks Change

When Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser swept into Khartoum for an Arab summit less than three months after the Arab debacle in the 1967 Six-Day War, he was greeted like a hero.
Newsweek ran a cover story titled, "Hail to the Conquered!" The summit passed the notorious "three no's" defining future relations with Israel: No negotiations, no recognition and no peace.
In July the following year, Nasser took a young Yasser Arafat, traveling on an Egyptian passport under the name of Muhsin Amin, with him to Moscow on an arms shopping spree.



Featured Stories

U.S.
Analysis: Obama sounding similar to Bush on foreign policy

Not only is Barack Obama inheriting President Bush's Middle East, it looks like he's adopting his strategies.

Torah Portion
Listen, will you?

Parshat Vayetze (Genesis 28:10-32:3) Men equate the inability to solve a problem with weakness, so when men are in the same situation they feel that they must solve the problem.

Los Angeles
Half a world away, Los Angeles mourns

The overwhelming majority of mourners had never met the Holtzbergs. But that didn't matter. They have become, for Americans, the public face of this tragedy.

Education
Thanks, Cal State —thanks a lot

When we hear that the one option that has always been guaranteed to us is now an uncertain variable, we can do nothing but doubt. When competition rages from all angles, and the safety we counted on no longer exists, we can do nothing but give up, right?

Food
Kosherfest 2008 is heaven on earth for foodies

Each year Kosherfest organizers hold a competition for the best new kosher-certified products. This year, Zelda's Sweet Shoppe of Skokie, Ill., took top honors with a "Southern Pecan Pie."