The Other Israel: Voices of Refusal and Dissent

by Roane Carey

Book Overview

The Other Israel is an urgent and passionate intervention by Israeli citizens challenging the continued occupation of Palestinian territory and the failed policies of Ariel Sharon's government.... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 156584789X
• ISBN13: 9781565847897
• Release Date: September 2002
• Publisher: New Press
• Length: 208 Pages
• Weight: 0.80 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 6.4" x 7.9"

Customer Reviews

5 Stars Is Not Enough!

"The Other Israel" is truly a gem and will probably be the best read of the year. Not only for the historic perspective given, but also for the way these writers have literally bared their souls on a subject they feel so strongly about. In today's oversimplified coverage of the Middle East conflict that we see on the media, "The Other Israel" will take you on a journey to places you've never been before, and may very well make you doubt what you once believed. These 37 essays are a contribution by Jewish novelists, historians, journalists, activists, as well as several military officers who have refused to serve in the occupied territories. All who hope that their voices will be heard around the world, and especially by their own people who, like most in America, will have their perceptions shaped by what the government tells them, what they see on the media, and often more than not, what they don't see.As a collective, the essays represent a growing discontented movement within Israel itself that questions the morality of the occupation, the mindset upon which it has endured, the terrible hardship on the Palestinian people, and the effect on Israeli society as a whole.No longer able to ignore their moral convictions, and acutely aware of the turmoil beset both sides, these writers expose the failings of the past peace processes, the myths that have been perpetuated over the years, and the apartheid conditions the Israeli occupation of Palestinian land has created. They condemn what the occupation has done to the moral fiber of their military, along with not only the price they pay as a society, but with their standing in the world community as well. None of these essays are terribly long, and some are amazingly short. But they are sophisticated in that they manage to convey complicated accounts of history along with deep personal perspectives in a relatively short amount of space due to the exquisite writing. Almost all are haunting. Some are point-blank in your face accusations and I was caught off guard, but I witnessed more in these pages then any documentary video I've seen on the subject. If these pages don't strike some deep nerve within you then nothing will.As you read, it will become apparent that these essays took much courage on the part of the writers, knowing full well that they might, at the very least, be labeled as `self hating Jews' and at the very worst, traitors by the hard right Zionist wing. The essays were written last year just falling short of the current roadmap process, but nonetheless will still give an incredible insight into what has been going on over there.Often the writings depict the internal struggle within the authors themselves. On one hand there is a great need to be part of the greater Jewish solidarity, the wish for their country to live peaceably and prosper, while on the other as one essayist points out, the anguish that comes from "knowing all this, yet crying little, and keeping quiet too often."

Israeli Patriotism Reaches Heroic Levels In This Book

Finally, a book written by insiders in regard to the Israeli/Palestinian conflict. Certainly a rare find. This book is actually a compilation of papers/essays/letters written by numerous authors all of Israeli Jewish decent. Noted authors include Uri Avnery who fought in the '48 war and served in the Knesset, Ishai Menuchin who is a Major the Israel Defense Forces reserves, Dr. Yigal Shochat who served as a fighter pilot in the Israeli Air Force during the War of Attrition, as well as numerous well-known and published professors of Political Science, all of whom teach at universities across Israel.The book subverts many myths about Israeli politics in the OPT, but it does not do so in a black and white manner as so many other books do. It is a critical analyses of how certain decisions by those in power are creating a threat not only to Israeli citizens within Israel proper, but also a to Israel's democracy itself. This book criticizes key flaws in Israeli politics in regard to the Palestinian issue and provides solutions in their place; rather than simply attack Israel for all it's worth.In addition to the logical, critical, thought-provoking, Jewish-perspective information this book provides, it also serves to effectively undermine anti-Semitic attitudes towards Israel. Many other books simply criticize Israel without providing alternate solutions given from Israeli Jewish perspectives.. those types of books end up in the hands of some anti-Semites who use the text (most often taken out of context) as metaphorical ammunition. This book is no such source for such idiocy.To criticize one's own government is nothing new, but to do so in such a well-articulated manner, without ostracizing 1000s of years of Jewish culture, and all the while defending democracy while putting your public reputation on the line is not only genius; it's heroic. Read this book!

Israel's true patriots

Jeff Halper goes through an outline of Barak's allegedly ultra-generous offer to his Quisling Afrafat at Camp David in July 2000, the myth of which has been such a powerful ideological justification for the current terror against Palestinians. He shows that this offer was probably somewhere around 90 percent of the West Bank. However the substance of the agreement was that the West Bank would be permanently divided up into several cantons of Palestinian population centers which have no contiguity with one another. Situated in between and blocking access for Palestinian areas to each other, are and would be under the offer, most of the Jewish settlements, the settler bypass roads, Israeli army posts and so on. Halper laboriously examines the countours of "Jerusalem" "Greater Jerusalem" and "Metropolitan Jerusalem." Israel, of course, does not define Jerusalem in its 1967 borders or Greater Jerusalem or Metro Jerusalem as part of the West Bank though such areas comprise a good percentage of the Central West Bank. This Jerusalem "block" effectively cuts the West Bank in two, consisting of strategically located Jewish settlements, a great many of them built by the Rabin-Peres-Barak governments. Halper notes that what Barak offered at Taba in January 2001 was somewhat better than at Camp David: Smaller settlement blocks, control over some bypass roads, control of the Jordan valley, but calling for Israel to access the Jordan Valley or the Palestinian controlled roads if it feels the need for security reasons. Israel still would completely control Palestinian water supplies, foreign affairs and dominate its economy. Barak abruptly cut off these negotiations before the elections of February 2001 and declared the continuing negotiations to be "null and void." Tanya Reihnart points to the old Allon plan of 1968 which called for Israel to annex around 40 percent of the West Bank i.e. taking all the best land and strategic areas while giving Palestinian population centers some sort of autonomy where they can work for Israeli bussinesses and pick up their own trash or preferably, immigrate away. Other Israeli leaders have always thought that the "limited autonomy" of the modern Allon plan of Oslo gave too much to Palestinian nationalist aspirations. Sharon other writers note, is continuing to murder Arabs as he has been doing all his illustrious career but he his simply retrying his old plan against the PLO in Lebanon in 1982, to try to use such overwhelming, continuous violence against the Palestinians to crush all their hopes, so that perhaps the territories will be "diluted" of Palestinians, from immigration or death. The rest who manage to stay can be slaves of Israel or be killed. Other writers such as Amira Hass, Gideon Levy and Halper give on the ground reports from the territories of day-to-day lives of Palestinians. In particular spending time observing first hand the ubiquitous checkpoints which exist for no reason other than to detain Palestinia

Better Title: LIFE AFTER PEACE NOW

During the late eighties to mid nineties, one of the defining political movement was "Peace Now" the broad based, umbrella groups seeking peace with the Palestinians and the surrounding Arab nations. With the assasination of Rabin, the advent of suicide/homicide bombings, the new intifada, and collapse of peace talks at Camp David and Taba, "Peace Now" is now a shadow of its former self and its not hard to meet disillusioned Israelis who once supported its goals but now want nothing to do with it.The fact was and is that "Peace Now" while broad in its heydey was very shallow in its position. Together with Meretz and Labor "doves" they sought friendship first and justice toward the Palestinians later; not realizing that that it could only be justice first and then friendship. This crucial misunderstanding defines the failure of the traditional peace groups/parties in Israel. (The fact that they scrupulously avoided ever criticized Israeli government policy.)Fortunely there still is a hard core of "peaceniks." At perhaps 20-30% of the population they are a minority, but they are a substantial minority. The groups they make up include "Gush-Shalom" the hard core "Peace Bloc" which calls for a two state solution and a sharing of Jerusalem, "Ometz Lesarev" ("Courage to Refuse") the conditional objector movement of reservists who refuse to serve in the occupied territories, Rabbis for Human Rights, B'Tselem the Palestian-Israeli human rights organization, Ta'Ayush the cooperative movement of young people of Jewish and Arabic backgrounds participating in non-violent direct action and reliefl efforts in the occupied territories, the Campaign against Home Demolitions, the Women in Black, among others.This anthology covers a generous cross section this opinion, not usually covered in the US media: from "new historian" Avi Schlaim, to veteran "muckraker" Uri Avnery, to hard hitting journalists Tanya Rheinhart and Amira Hass, to several members of the "refuser" movements. The contents of the this book will challenge many recieved notions that govern the coverage of Israel/Palestine in the US media, including the nature of the occupation, the bad faith with which Oslo was carried out, the true responsibility for the failures at Camp David and Taba.The editors strove for comprehensiveness, but I still can think of two glaring omissions: Ran HaCohen whose column "Letter from Israel" appears (and is archived) on antiwar.com, and Stephen Langfur, author of CONFESSION FROM A JERICHO JAIL, who was a precursor of the "Ometz" movement and is presently editor for Challenge Magazine, where his continuing work on the rights and conditions of Arab workers and their role in the context of globalization is quite remarkable. There is also something of a generational bias in the selection, material from Ta'ayush and Between the Lines magazine are unaccounted for. While biographies for the contributors are included in the back of the book a list of organizations and websites

ESSENTIAL READING ON JEWISH OPPOSITION IN ISRAEL

This is an anthology of the most thoughtful essays on the consequences of Sharon's policies by people who know what they are writing about. It is an excellent antidote to sloppy thinking and simple-mindedness.