Ta�ayush Demonstration in Tel Aviv

By John Ballard

A year has passed since the Israeli war into Gaza called Operation Cast Lead.
Despite impressions to the contrary here, a large and growing population of Israeli citizens are growing tired of the heavy-handed manner their country is handling Gaza.

About Ta�ayush

We � Arabs and Jews, Israelis and Palestinians � live surrounded by walls and barbed wire: the walls of segregation, racism, and discrimination between Jews and Arabs within Israel; the walls of Apartheid, closure and siege encircling the Palestinians in the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip; and the wall of war surrounding all inhabitants of Israel, so long as Israel remains an armed fortress in the heart of the Middle East.

In the fall of 2000 we joined together to form �Ta�ayush� (Arabic for �living together�), a grassroots movement of Arabs and Jews working to break down the walls of racism and segregation by constructing a true Arab-Jewish partnership. Together we strive for a future of equality, justice and peace through concrete, daily, non-violent actions of solidarity to end the Israeli occupation of the Palestinian territories and to achieve full civil equality for all.

A large portion of the Israeli left marked the Gaza war with a protest in the heart of Tel Aviv last night. The march began in Rabin Square and ended across the street from the Defense Ministry.

Organized non-violent direct action does not have the drama of spontaneous outbursts of passion, replete with set fires and petty vandalism. Consequently many of the media are reluctant to invest air time and talking heads attention until they can deliver more tension-filled, hopefully bloody content. That's how they pay the rent. Besides, they never know (they would argue) when demonstrations are "real" or "staged" because the cameras are there.

Something tells me that this one is real. There is an internal conflict in Israel about how best to deal with the "Palestinian Question." I know this to be true from following Israeli and Palestinian blogs for the last five or more years. And that argument is getting more heated.

I came across this interesting exchange in the comments thread at Philip Weiss' Blog.
I don't recall seeing such candor before which included as much specificity.

67 Kathleen January 3, 2010 at 10:38 am

Here is how much Iranian protesters were mentioned on Think Progress over the last week

Obama�s message to Iranian protesters: History is on your side.
http://thinkprogress.org/2009/12/28/obama-iran-protests-statement/

Nothing at all on Think Progress about the one year anniversary of the brutal attacks on the Palestinians one year ago. Silence at that site about the Gaza Freedom March.

Not just the MSM that are Progressives except for Palestine PEP�s . Plenty of the so called progressive blogs are silent on these critical issues

But have a protest in Iran and are MSM and so called progressive blogs are all over it

68 Chaos4700 January 3, 2010 at 11:06 am

That�s because it�s an easy target, Kathleen. AIPAC and the ADL aren�t going to come after people who talk about Iran, after all.

69 Kathleen January 3, 2010 at 10:53 am

But as I have pointed out. Most of the so called progressive blogs are clogged up on covering the I/P conflict also. Crooks and Liars being one of the most closed down, as well as Huff Po (although they have opened up a bit). Firedoglake allows the flunkies to post articles opinions on Seminal. But again the heavy hitters over there have dipped their toes a tiny bit but generally avoid this critical issue.

Mondoweiss, Washington Post, Juan Cole the most open to real discussions on this issue. Many of the progressive blogs fall into line just the way the MSM does on this issue

70 Citizen January 3, 2010 at 11:14 am

Counterpunch addresses the issues.

71 Kathleen January 3, 2010 at 11:53 am

good to hear. Would expect that over there. I would say Crooks and Liars is one of the most occupied by the I lobby. Progressive except for Palestine PEP�s

72 Danaa January 3, 2010 at 12:54 pm

I�ll add one to your list, kathleen � Openleft, a mostly excellent blog, run by progressive political operatives/pundits, must have a policy of not touching the issue (except as �quick hits�). But here�s what happens � because they really are progressives, the only way to avoid the entire issue is to side-step almost all matters of foreign policy, perhaps with just a nod to afganistan (where america did some escalating, angering the progressive � but not the mainstream � democratic base).

This is the price progressives seem wiling to pay for the sake of unity � concentrate on domestic and pretend that nothing much is happening outside our borders, at least nothing that progressives need to mention at any length. A piece I�m working on now takes on the issue of how deliberate avoidance of the important foreign policy area helps compromise the progressive voice on all fronts, including the domestic. It means, for example, that there are connections the progressive voices do not highlight and conclusions they fail to draw . This leads to a certain hypocracy that, in my opinion, helps marginalize their influence. After all, if you refuse to take on one major lobby, what use is a your voice decrying other lobbies? who�s gonna be afraid of what you say, or take any of it into account if your fight is so selective?

One glaring exception to this rule: Glenn Greenwald � who takes his shots at whatever target he finds in the MSM wasteland � moving or not. And of all the progressive bloggers, he is perhaps the most well read and quoted, so far from being marginalized and shut up his voice rings truer than most and getting louder by the day. Kudos to Glenn � one of the few brave souls out there.

Another notable is TPM (which has MJRosenberg at the TPMCafe) and sometimes, The nation, that goes for a little toe-dipping into the quagmire, now and then. Good for them both.

73 Danaa January 3, 2010 at 2:00 pm

One more comment for you kathleen, since your issue is the progressive journo/blogo sphere. There�s a simple reason the I/P issue is so difficult for this crowd � the huge jewish contingent among progressives. If anyone did research on the politically active base � of all ages � among the progressive wing of the democratic party, they�d, I�m certain � find a highly disproportionate jewish related segment. Many may not belong to any established jewish community or maintain the feintest connection to judaism (though the family can be another matter). That�s to be expected given the tendency of the jewish community at large to be on the liberal side domestically, but it�s bolstered by a natural tendency to just be active � however active is defined � as well as an inclination to be informed generally. I realize this is a minefield and so am not surprised to see that no such polls exist (at least none I could find). But my guess is that the progressive blogosphere and the activist ranks are 25-30% jewish, whether among the young or the not so young.

That would explain the discomfort with I/P in general. Individuals may feel no kinship to Israel, but their friends and family could be another matter � so they�d rather stay away from offending friends and relations.

So it�s not just the all-powerful lobby � which is there, for sure. It�s that �the lobby� doesn�t need to flex much muscle to be effective in silencing discourse. DK is the best example, I think. There are no more than 10-15 who form a �posse� of sorts, acting as hall way monitors � as citizen (I think) said. 4-5 of them at any given time can hijack any diary, therefore discouraging discourse by any sensible people who may wander it, wishing to contribute. It�s kind of mob-control that needs a very small mob to perpetrate its effect.

The upshot is, because of this crowd-magnifying effect, the issue cannot be addressed from within the blogs. Which is why one has to fight it from the outside, looking in. I plan to do that myself, though at the moment am still hobbled by time constraints.

So keep researching, Kathleen � and do write to Rachel�s program as often as feasible, raising the issue. Something tells me you are hardly the only one in the progressive who has noticed the glaring silence of the lambs.

74 Kathleen January 3, 2010 at 3:00 pm

Exactly PEP�s Progressives except for Palestine. But we need to rub their noses in it. Call them out. Help Rachel and Keith develop the bad name s they deserve since they are so damn chicken shit, sold out, or are PEP�s on this critical issue.

Calll them out bring attention to this issue everywhere you can.

I don't want to stir up too much stuff. And maybe I'm being naive. But I have been watching and reading about the treatment of Gaza since I started blogging and during that time I have observed what was once a conflict over an existential threat to Israel morph into an existential threat to the Palestinians.

There is ample reason to hold both "sides" accountable, not the least of which is a tragic civil conflict among the Palestinians themselves. But there is a qualitative difference between children who are victims of terror and children who are already dead. 

During last year's war I was amazed at the technical sophistication of Israel's forces and the lengths they went to to minimize civilian deaths. Their accuracy was so precise, their technology and intelligence so complete, that they could make telephone calls to specific addresses before hitting them in order to allow those in danger to escape before the site was destroyed. And even with all that surgical precision the impact of the assault was devastating way over the top.

When the war ended and the Goldstone Report came and went with no comments in places I would expect to find them, I had that queezy feeling I get when I'm in a small and shrinking minority. The Progressive blogosphere owes George Bush and the Fox network for eight years of solidarity. Now, as the Obama bubble bursts, that unity is showing signs of weakness. And just when I expected it to get more attention, the I/P conflict continues to get short shrift.

The reason for this post is simple. At least one contributor at Newshoggers doesn't want to be labeled PEP, Progressive Except for Palestine.  If I'm off base someone will set me straight in the comments. But before 2010 gets too much older, I want to shine a light on the plight of Gaza in hopes that others will join me in keeping hope alive for peace between Israel and the Palestinians.