Egypt plans new climate finance platform to green industrial sector    Gold prices edge higher on July 16th    Egypt stocks hit record highs in 2025 as reforms fuel rally: Cabinet    Egypt condemns Israeli strikes on Lebanon, Syria    Egypt signs strategic agreements to attract global investment in gold, mineral exploration    Egypt launches first national workshop on food systems, climate action with UN, global partners    Al-Sisi reviews Egypt's food security, strategic commodity reserves    Syria says it will defend its territory after Israeli strikes in Suwayda    Egypt urges EU support for Gaza ceasefire, reconstruction at Brussels talks    Pakistan names Qatari royal as brand ambassador after 'Killer Mountain' climb    Health Ministry denies claims of meningitis-related deaths among siblings    Egypt's Health Min. discusses drug localisation with Sandoz    Egypt, Mexico explore joint action on environment, sustainability    Egypt, Mexico discuss environmental cooperation, combating desertification    Needle-spiking attacks in France prompt government warning, public fear    Foreign, housing ministers discuss Egypt's role in African development push    Korea Culture Week in Egypt to blend K-Pop with traditional arts    Egypt, France FMs review Gaza ceasefire efforts, reconstruction    CIB finances Giza Pyramids Sound and Light Show redevelopment with EGP 963m loan    Egypt's PM urges BRICS to prioritise peace    Greco-Roman tombs with hieroglyphic inscriptions discovered in Aswan    Egypt reveals heritage e-training portal    Three ancient rock-cut tombs discovered in Aswan    Sisi launches new support initiative for families of war, terrorism victims    Egypt's GAH, Spain's Konecta discuss digital health partnership    Egypt expands e-ticketing to 110 heritage sites, adds self-service kiosks at Saqqara    Egypt's Irrigation Minister urges scientific cooperation to tackle water scarcity    Palm Hills Squash Open debuts with 48 international stars, $250,000 prize pool    Egypt's Democratic Generation Party Evaluates 84 Candidates Ahead of Parliamentary Vote    On Sport to broadcast Pan Arab Golf Championship for Juniors and Ladies in Egypt    Golf Festival in Cairo to mark Arab Golf Federation's 50th anniversary    Germany among EU's priciest labour markets – official data    Cabinet approves establishment of national medical tourism council to boost healthcare sector    Egypt's PM follows up on Julius Nyerere dam project in Tanzania    Paris Olympic gold '24 medals hit record value    A minute of silence for Egyptian sports    Russia says it's in sync with US, China, Pakistan on Taliban    It's a bit frustrating to draw at home: Real Madrid keeper after Villarreal game    Shoukry reviews with Guterres Egypt's efforts to achieve SDGs, promote human rights    Sudan says countries must cooperate on vaccines    Johnson & Johnson: Second shot boosts antibodies and protection against COVID-19    Egypt to tax bloggers, YouTubers    Egypt's FM asserts importance of stability in Libya, holding elections as scheduled    We mustn't lose touch: Muller after Bayern win in Bundesliga    Egypt records 36 new deaths from Covid-19, highest since mid June    Egypt sells $3 bln US-dollar dominated eurobonds    Gamal Hanafy's ceramic exhibition at Gezira Arts Centre is a must go    Italian Institute Director Davide Scalmani presents activities of the Cairo Institute for ITALIANA.IT platform    







Thank you for reporting!
This image will be automatically disabled when it gets reported by several people.



Who Obama should talk to
Published in Daily News Egypt on 20 - 06 - 2008

Senator Barack Obama has positioned himself as an independent thinker unafraid to break the Washington mould. He says that, as president, he would pursue "direct diplomacy and talk to Iran and to Cuba. There was no such challenge to Washington norms in Obama's recent speeches to the pro-Israel lobby in Washington and to a synagogue in Boca Raton, Florida. In both, he reduced the status of the Palestinians from that of a people with rights to servants of Israel's security.
Obama's campaign is out of step with changing realities in the country. It is ignoring fast-growing American Jewish communities that are redefining what it means to support Israel in the United States. The day before Obama spoke in Florida, I spoke at a well-attended forum organized by Brooklyn for Peace. The main organizers and my two co-panelists were American Jews, and it soon became clear that many in the audience were too.
There were no dissenting voices as our panel spoke of the desperate conditions of Palestinians living under Israeli occupation, the Palestinian right of return, and equal rights for all citizens of Israel. Indeed, many of the questions were from Jews who wanted to know how to talk about the issues to other Jews - and, especially, their mothers.
This may sound like a fringe event but it was not. One co-panelist was a New York University department chair, and the other an active member of Jewish Voice for Peace, a group that has grown from a small California base to a nationwide organization. It has 20,000 people on its email list. Its blog, Muzzlewatch, tracks those who seek to stifle criticism of Israel's occupation, and is one of the most-frequented blogs in the country.
If we put the pro-Israel lobby, the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), at the right of the political spectrum, then these American Jews are certainly on the left. Interestingly, because it is likely to be more threatening to AIPAC, there's change in the centre, too. Here a large cluster of American Jewish groups is making the case that peace with the Palestinians is essential to Israel's very survival. The centre includes Americans for Peace Now, Israel Policy Forum, Brit Tzedek v'Shalom, and the freshly minted J-Street, which is squaring up to be the "other Israel lobby.
I would not define the contours of a just peace in the same way as the American Jewish centre does. We differ, for example, on the Palestinian right of return and the notion that Israel can be Jewish and be democratic.
However, what is far more significant in American political terms is that the American Jewish center defines peace very differently from the way AIPAC does. AIPAC and its allied American Jewish and Christian Zionist groups are currently the stronger force, but the center's numbers are not negligible. J-Street, for example, teamed up with MoveOn.org to get tens of thousands of signatures on a petition asking presidential candidate John McCain to renounce pastor John Hagee after the latter said, "God sent Hitler to cause the Holocaust so that Jews would move to Israel. J-Street claimed victory when McCain renounced Hagee.
Yet Obama steers clear of the American Jewish left and centre. There are frequent media reports about his campaign distancing itself from advisors that might be seen as anything less than 100% pro-Israel.
The media also continues to give significant coverage to Obama's abrupt break with Palestinian Americans that were former friends and fellow human rights advocates. He has moved from acknowledging Palestinian "suffering in times past to a single-minded focus on Israel's security without even a nod to the besieged Gazans, most of whom now live - as former President Jimmy Carter recently noted - on one meal a day because of Israel's siege.
Obama is out of step with his country here too. This year, as never before, Palestinian stories of loss and dispossession have been widely featured alongside coverage of the 60th year of Israel's creation. There has never been a better time for a politician to buck Washington trends and listen to the Palestinian voice.
But the Obama campaign, having placed Palestinian Americans beyond the pale, appears to be too apprehensive even to reach out to American Jews that challenge AIPAC-style politics. Is the Senator who has brought hope to so many by preaching "change we can believe in positioning himself behind the curve of change?
Nadia Hijabis a Senior Fellow at the Washington, DC, office of the Institute for Palestine Studies. This article is distributed by the Common Ground News Service (CGNews) and can be accessed at www.commongroundnews.org.


Clic here to read the story from its source.