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Bread and Roses III
Report on an art exhibit in Tel Aviv...
Vision of the Organization for Democratic Action
ODA-DA'AM: Reveille for the Working Class
The following piece will soon be published in Solution: Israel-Palestine, edited by Joshua Simon, Sternberg Press, Berlin - New York.
he Middle East conflict will not find a solution within the current array of forces. On the one side there is American hegemony (somewhat shaken), Israeli refusal, an internal Palestinian schism, and dictatorial Arab regimes. On the other side is extremist Islamic fundamentalism. Those who have sought a solution under these conditions have reaped, until now, intifada, blockade, the separation barrier, and war. The negotiations taking place under the auspices of the Obama Administration will not undo the stalemate. A real solution will not be possible except as part of an international social, political and economic change, affecting not just Israel, the Palestinians, and the Arab world, but also the Western industrial nations that today are at the heart of the capitalist order.
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2010 CALENDAR
Sindyanna’s Bread and Roses Calendar for 2010 consists of 12 paintings by Palestinian and Jewish women living in Israel. Organizations and groups are invited to send us their orders NOW! Please see more details on the 
Sindyanna website
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P.O.B. 35252
Tel Aviv 61351
Israel
Visiting Address
Rehov Ha-Aliyah 43
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Sindyanna of Galilee
Etgar: our sister-publication in Hebrew
Al-Sabar: our sister-publication in Arabic
Video48: a documentary-film group
CHALLENGE is indexed by the Alternative Press Index.
The Smell of Apartheid: Israel's Citizenship Law
by Yacov Ben Efrat
he government has approved the proposal for an amendment to the Citizenship Law, according to which anyone requesting Israeli citizenship will have to declare loyalty to Israel as a “Jewish and democratic” state. This amendment is perceived by many to be an unnecessary provocation against the country's Arab population, even though it is ostensibly directed towards neither Arab citizens nor Jewish citizens, but towards those seeking citizenship, including Arab spouses requesting citizenship for the sake of family unification.
more...
Lieberman's "Truth"
by Yacov Ben Efrat
sked whether his speech at the UN General Assembly (September 28, 2010) expressed the position of his government or rather the platform of his political party, Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman answered: "The speech expressed the truth." Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu made no objection to the content, limiting himself to a statement, via his bureau, that the speech was not coordinated with him. Lieberman said that a peace agreement between Israel and the Palestinians would be "achieved only decades from now." There is no reason to think that Netanyahu believes otherwise. Lieberman expresses the dominant spirit in Israel's government, and his speech exposed a fact known to all: he is himself the cement that binds Netanyahu's coalition.
The Peace Talks: Consensus vs. Consensus
by Yacov Ben Efrat
t last it is happening. U.S. President Barack Obama has opened direct talks between Israelis and Palestinians. All American presidents since Carter have tried for peace and failed, each failure resulting in blood. Responsibility is heavy therefore on the shoulders of the leaders, whether or not they feel its weight.
Erdogan and Israel: Glitch or Rupture?
by Assaf Adiv
he crisis in the relationship between Israel and Turkey reached a head following the IDF raid on the flotilla to Gaza at the end of last May, during which nine IHH activists were killed. Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan gave his full support to the flotilla, using anti-Israel rhetoric which boosted his popularity in the Arab world.
After the Flotilla: A Survey of the Regional and Local Situation
by Yacov Ben Efrat
he international reaction to the killing of nine activists on the deck of the Mavi Marmara sent Israel into a state of shock. That reaction expressed the international community's loathing for the right-wing administration of Binyamin Netanyahu and for the years of Israel's aggressive rule over Palestinian lives. Long years of foot dragging in talks with the Palestinians, the continuing settlement construction, the project of judaizing Jerusalem, the roadblocks and checkpoints preventing freedom of movement, the separation barrier in the West Bank and the blockade of the Gaza Strip—all these have engendered an almost wall-to-wall international consensus against the Israeli occupation. In response to this reaction, Israel was forced to lighten its Gaza blockade significantly, to establish its own commission to investigate the flotilla debacle, and it has now agreed to participate in a United Nations investigation as well.
The Trouble with the March for Gilad Shalit
by Yacov Ben Efrat
he march for the release of Gilad Shalit, which began from his family home in Mizpeh Hila and is destined for the Prime Minister's house in Jerusalem, is winning public support for the notion that Israel should "pay the price." And what is the price? PM Binyamin Netanyahu listed the demands of Shalit's captors on Thursday, July 1, 2010, in a speech to the nation. Hamas, he said, wants a thousand prisoners in exchange, including 450 "heavies" convicted of violent crimes against Israelis. The remaining gaps between the sides are two: (1) Among the 450 are men from the West Bank, and Israel wants to keep them out of there, far from its major cities, by deporting them to Gaza or abroad. Their return to the West Bank, it also claims, could turn the strategic balance against Palestinian Authority (PA) President Abu Mazen. (2) There are ten on the Hamas list who Israel isn't willing to release, but Hamas insists. The fate of these ten will show which side has the upper hand.
The Ghetto in the Ghetto
by Michal Schwartz
he past year has witnessed two cases in the religious schools where ultraorthodox Jews of West European descent (Ashkenazis) discriminated against ultraorthodox Jews of darker hues. In August 2009, private religious schools in Petach Tikva refused to admit Ethiopian Jews. In response, the Education Ministry threatened to withdraw financial support for these schools and even to shut them down. In this way it compelled them to admit a hundred pupils.
