The 2000 presidential election was a referendum on the future — who did Americans believe could lead them forward. 2004 is a referendum on the past –who do Americans believe can prevent Sept. 11, 2001 from happening again.
In announcing a plan to evacuate nearly all of the Jewish communities in the Gaza Strip, Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon is signaling that he\’s serious about creating large blocs of Palestinian territory free of Israelis — and that he is willing to gamble with his political future.
Numbers never tell the whole story, but these come close. By retaining control of the West Bank, Gaza and the Palestinian populations therein, Israel will either cease to be a primarily Jewish State, or will become an undemocratic one, where a Jewish minority rules an Arab majority.
The World Union is the umbrella organization for 1,500 Reform, Reconstructionist, Liberal and Progressive congregations in 44 countries and, Regev estimated, touches the religious, educational and social lives of approximately 2 million Jews.
In fact, much of this week\’s aid talk may be political playacting intended to give a boost to Prime Minister Ariel Sharon in his reelection bid, not to produce real shekels in the Israeli treasury.
The most obvious gap in the new Bush approach is its assumption that the Palestinian people really want peace, and that it\’s just a corrupt, unaccountable leadership that wants to intensify the fight against Israel, said Daniel Pipes, a longtime peace process critic and president of the Middle East Forum.
\”It\’s a war against indigenous people. Arafat was born there, while the other guy is from where, Poland?\”
Letters are good, said an old Sacramento hand, phone calls are good, faxes are good, but for real impact, nothing beats face-to-face meetings with legislators.
Now the Middle East conflict is also playing out in the American street. For months, pro-Israel and pro-Palestinian groups have demonstrated with some regularity in New York and other cities nationwide.
Are the Ten Plagues merely a just reward perpetrated against the \”axis of evil\” by a God who is \”on our side\”?
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