The Problem with Solutions

Noah Habeeb asks us to remember that in order to successfully implement a just solution to the Israel/Palestine conflict, we need to focus on the process of solving it, not just the solution.

A Two-State Solution is the Only Option

Alon Ben-Meir writes: “Israel and the Palestinians must choose to either live in peace or in a state of constant hostilities and bloodshed. The Palestinians’ right to a state of their own, coupled with unanimous international support, makes the two-state solution the only viable option.”

Moving Beyond Despair

Don Waxman proposes a pragmatic approach which will “focus on campaigning for interim measures that Israel could easily adopt, measures that would dramatically improve the lives and enhance the rights of Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza.”

For Hazhir

Jon Swan’s poem about drones is a haunting vision. “The drone hovers under the iron-gray dome of heaven . . .”

Benjamin Netanyahu’s Fantasy World

Netanyahu’s speech to Congress was brilliantly deceitful because it played to the fantasies that Israeli propaganda and right wing militarists in the US have been popularizing for the past thirty years. The biggest fantasy: that we can coerce others through power over them to do what we consider in the best interests of the U.S. or Israel.

Without Justice, Tolerance Perpetuates the Status Quo

Within Open Hillel, we often talk about the value of embracing the discomfort we experience when hearing opinions that we disagree with. After all, ideas that make us uncomfortable may challenge our intellectual or emotional security, but rarely challenge our actual physical safety.