Independent Jewish Voices

Independent Jewish Voices (IJV) is a network of individuals who wish to have a platform for critical debate on major political questions, the situation in the Middle East in particular. The initiative was born out of a frustration with the widespread misconception that the Jews of this country (Great Britain) speak with one voice - and that this voice supports the Israeli government’s policies.

In the year that sees the 40th anniversary of the occupation of the West Bank and Gaza Strip, our project is to create a climate and a space in which Jews of different affiliations and persuasions can express their opinions about the actions of the Israeli government without being accused of disloyalty or being dismissed as self-hating. The need for such debate becomes even more urgent as the situation in the Middle East continues to deteriorate.

From a wide range of backgrounds and with a wide range of views, we all share the belief that the interests of an occupying power should not count for more than the human rights of an occupied people, together with

1. a commitment to human rights

2. the conviction that Palestinians and Israelis have a right to peace and security

3. a condemnation of racism in all its forms, including anti-Semitism and Islamophobia

Our founding principles are set out in our Declaration "A Time to Speak Out - Independent Jewish Voices" . We urge those who share these principles to join us .


Independent Jewish Voices (IJV) is one of a growing number of networks across the world reflecting the views of Jews with a strong commitment to peace and human rights who feel that an independent stand is vital in the pursuit of peace in the Middle East. Apart from the UK, among other countries that have given birth to such groups in recent years are Australia, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, Greece, Netherlands, New Zealand, South Africa, Sweden, Switzerland, USA.

In addition, there is an impressive number of both Israeli and Palestinian NGOs active in the areas of peace, human rights and co-existence. The ones we are aware of us are listed below (we assume there are others we have not come across). Many of them have websites, which may be accessed by keying their names into a search engine.

Please note that while we believe their agendas are oriented principally towards peace and human rights, IJV cannot vouch for the credentials of each and every group or take any responsibility for their activities or pronouncements. We will attempt to keep these lists up to date and if you know of other relevant NGOs (or any on the list that are no longer functional), please email details to web@ijv.org.uk. Where the groups are joint Israeli/Palestinian, they are listed under both headings (but not necessarily under the same name).

Groups in Israel
Abraham Fund Initiatives
Adalah - The Legal Center for Arab Minority Rights in Israel
Akoda - promoting a culture of peace in Israel & the Middle East
Alternative Information Centre
Anarchists Against the Wall
Arab-Jewish Ensemble of the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra
Arava Peace & Environmental Network
Ariga
Association of Arab University Students
Association for Civil Rights in Israel (ACRI)
Association of Forty for Recognition of Arab Villages
Bat Shalom - Women for Peace
Baladna
Banki
Beyond Words
Bimkom - Planners for Planning Rights (human rights & spatial planning)
Bitterlemons - Palestinian-Israeli online journal
Black Laundry
Blue Rising Coalition - for a Permanent Status Peace
Breaking the Silence
Bridges - Israeli-Palestinian Public Health Magazine (sponsored by WHO)
Bridge for Peace - Israeli/Palestinian/Jordanian Disk Jockeys
B'Tselem - Israel Information Centre for Human Rights in the occupied territories
Bustan L'Shalom - social justice & environment
(The) Campus Is Not Silent
Centre for Creativity in Education & Cultural Heritage
Center for Jewish-Arab Economic Development
Centre for the Struggle against Racism
Chefs for Peace
Children of Abraham
Citizens' Accord Forum
Clinical Legal Education Center for Human Rights & Social Responsibility
Coalition of Women for a Just Peace
Combat Seruv - Israeli officers & soldiers refusing to serve in the occupied territories
Combatants for Peace - former Israeli & Palestinian combatants
Conscientious Objectors' Support Forum
Council for Peace & Security
Creativity for Peace
Crossing borders - Israeli-Palestinian-Jordanian Youth Magazine
Culture of Peace Educational Program
(The) Democratic Choice
Disabled Veterans
Druse Initiative Committee
Du-Et - Israeli newspaper written & produced jointly by Jewish and Arab journalists
Du Siach
Economic Cooperation Foundation - for an Israeli-Palestinian peace agreement
E'Elam - Media Centre for Palestinians in Israel
Emda Circle
Encounter - EMEM
Eshed - citizenship, peace, democracy
Faculty for Israeli-Palestinian Peace (FFIPP)Fighters Meet Fighters
Forum for National Consensus
(The) Fifth Mother
Geneva accord (Beilin-Abed Rabbo initiative)
Gisha - Center for the legal protection of freedom of movement
Givat Haviva - Jewish-Arab Centre for Peace
Green Action
(The) Green Line - Students for a Border
Gush Shalom
HaCampus Lo Shotek -The Campus Is Not Silent
HaKav HaYarok
HaMifkad HaLeumi - Voice of the People (Nusseibeh/Ayalon peace initiative)
HaMoked - Center for the Defence of the Individual.
Hand in Hand project - Center for Jewish-Arab Education in Israel
(The) High Follow-Up Committee for the Arab citizens in Israel
HRA - The Arab Association for Human Rights
High school seniors draft refusers
IFLAC - Peace through Culture
Indymedia - Independent Media Group
Interfaith Encounter Association
Interreligious Coordinating Council
IPCRI - Israel-Palestine Centre for Research & Information
Ir Amim - City of Nations or Peoples (= Jerusalem)
Ir Shalem
Islam-Israel Fellowship
Israeli Committtee Against House Demolitions
Israeli Committee for the Right of Residency
Israeli-Palestinian Coalition for Peace
Israeli-Palestinian Peoples' Peace Campaign (IPPPC)
Israeli Section of Amnesty International
Jerusalem Foodsong
Jerusalem Jewish-Arab Circus
Jewish-Arab Community Association, Acre
Kav L'Oved - Workers' Hotline
Kav Yarok - Students for Immediate Withdrawal
Keshev - The Center for the Protection of Democracy in Israel
Kol Aher BaGalil - A different voice in Galilee
Kvisa Sh'hora - Lesbians and Gay Men Against the Occupation
Left Forum
Manara - advancing the status of Arab women in Israel
Mas'ha Group
Merchavim - Institute for Democratic Education
MachsomWatch - women monitoring soldiers' conduct at checkpoints
Masha Peace Camp
Mateh Ha'Rov - Coalition of the Majority
MEET - Middle East Education through Technology
Mideast Web
Monitoring Committee of the Arab Population of Israel
Mossawa Center - Advocacy Center for Arab Citizens of Israel
Negev Coexistence Forum
Negev Shalom
NELED
Network of Organizations for Jewish-Arab Coexistence in Israel
Neve Shalom/Wahat al-Salaam - integrated Jewish-Arab village near Latrun
New Israel Fund
New Profile
Noga
Olive Harvest Coalition
One Struggle
One to One - fosters peace & co-operation between Arabs & Jews in Israel
One Voice
Open House, Ramle - meeting place for Jewish & Arab youth
Open Tent
Ossim Shalom - Social Workers for Peace
Oz VeShalom/Netivot Shalom - orthodox Jewish movement for peace
Palestine-Israel Journal
Parents Circle - Bereaved Families Forum
Peace Alliance
Peace Child Israel
Peacemaker Community - Israel
Peres Centre for Peace
Physicians for Human Rights, Israel
Public Committee Against Torture in Israel
Rabbis for Human Rights
Rave Against The Occupation
Re'ut/Sadaka - Jewish-Arab Youth Movement for Peace & Equality
Salaam-V-Shalom
(The) Seventh Day
Shalom Achshav - Peace Now
Shatil
Shministim
Shovrim Shtika - Breaking the Silence (The Combatants Story)
Shuvi - Come Home (women urging withdrawal from Gaza Strip)
Sikkuy - Opportunity (Association for the Advancement of Civic Equality in Israel)
Sons of Abraham
Sulha Peace Project / Young Sulhita
(The) Supreme Followup Committee
Ta Adam
Tajamu Youth
Take-Their-Guns Coalition
TANDI - Movement of Democratic Women in Israel
Ta'ayush - Arab-Jewish Partnership
Together Forum (32 groups)
Union of Arab Associations
University Student Coalition
Vision of Peace with Justice in Israel/Palestine
War widows
West-Eastern Divan Orchestra (conducted by Daniel Barenboim)
WILPF, Israel - Women's International League for Peace & Friendship
Windows for Peace - Palestinian-Israeli Friendship Centre
Wives of Reserve Soldiers
Women Against The Wall
Women & Mothers for Peace (formerly Four Mothers)
Women in Black
Women's Coalition for Peace
Women's Interfaith Encounter
X-Fighters - former Israeli & Palestinian combatants educating youth on costs of violence
Yakar
Yesh Din- There is Law (promotes human rights in the West Bank & Gaza Strip)
Yesh Gvul - There is a limit / border
(The) Young Israeli Forum for Cooperation
Zochrot - Remembering (Israeli citizens raising awareness of the Palestinian Nakba)

Groups in West Bank / Gaza Strip
Bethlehem Peace CenterBitterlemons - Palestinian-Israeli online journal Bridges - Israeli-Palestinian Public Health Magazine (sponsored by WHO)Bridge for Peace - Israeli/Palestinian/Jordanian Disk JockeysCenter for Conflict Resolution & Reconciliation (CCRR)Civic Forum Institute Crossing borders - Israeli-Palestinian-Jordanian Youth MagazineDemocracy & Workers Rights Center (DWRC)Ensan Center for Democracy & Human Rights
Faculty for Israeli-Palestinian Peace (FFIPP)Forum for Dialogue & Peace
Geneva accord (Beilin-Abed Rabbo initiative)
Holy Land TrustCommunity Development & Economic Programs (including peace and reconciliation)International Peace & Cooperation Center (IPCC)IPCRI - Israel-Palestine Centre for Research & InformationIsraeli-Palestinian Coalition for PeaceIsraeli-Palestinian Peoples' Peace Campaign (IPPPC)Library on Wheels for Non-violence & PeaceMedical Working CommitteesMiddle-East Non-violence & DemocracyMuwatin - Palestinian Institute for the Study of Democracy
One VoicePalestine-Israel JournalPalestinian Center for Democracy & Conflict Resolution (PCDCR)Palestinian Center for Peace & Democracy (PCPD)Palestinian Center for Rapprochement between PeoplePalestinian Conflict Resolution Center (WIAM)Palestinian Council for Justice & Peace (PCJP)Palestinian Human Rights Monitoring Group (PHRMG)Palestinian initiative for the promotion of global dialogue & democracy (MIFTAH)Palestinian Peace Coalition (PPC)Palestinian Section of Amnesty InternationalPanorama - Palestinian Center for Democracy & Community Development
Parents Circle - Bereaved Families ForumPeace Research Institute in the Middle East (PRIME)
Ru'ya - Palestinian VisionSeeds of Peace - Regional ProgramSociety Voice FoundationSumud (Steadfastness) CampTA'AWM - Palestinian Conflict Resolution InstituteVoice of the People (Nusseibeh/Ayalon Initiative)

Should Hamas recognise Israel?

In many ways this is a silly question. It is like asking if the ant should recognise the elephant's right to exist!

Yet, Israel and the so-called Middle East Quartet, Russia, the United Nations, the European Union and the United States, have been demanding not only that the ant should recognise the elephant's right to exist but also to live by its shadow, blindfolded.

Let us be clear on the history. Palestine was a British mandated territory from the end of the First world War to 1947. The UN partitioned the territory in 1947 into a Jewish state and an Arab state (resolution 181). Israel established itself in 1948 on the land alloted to the Jewish state, which amounted to 56% of the territory, or 1393 km². To be precise, Israel never officially defined its own borders and went on to grab a bit more land than it was entitled to under the partition plan. The Arabs never accepted the partition and went on to wage wars against the Jewish state, most of which they have lost together with a great deal more territory. Interestingly, Iran, India and Yugoslavia, which had taken part in the 11-neutral country committee that investigated the situation in Palestine before the UN decison, wanted to create a single federated state for Arabs and Jews. They did not think the partition would be a good recipe for peaceful coexistence in the long term or create viable economies. So they voted against the partition along with the Arab states.

Hamas's charter does not recognise Israel's right to exist, not even within its 1947 borders. On the other hand, it is not entirely clear which Israel the Quartet wants Hamas to recognise. The territory that Israel now controls is 15 times bigger (20,770 km²) than the original land alloted to it in 1947. Israel has captured these lands in battles with the Arabs, annexed them and established permanent settlements over them. Morality and justice aside, trying to pick though the 60-year conflict between Arabs and Israelis to apportion blame and then attempt to roll back history does not take us very far. There are winners and losers in most battles. The Arabs have lost. Rolling back history can only be done through patient negotiations and building trust over decades, or fighting more battles with the risk of losing more territory and lives.

Nonetheless, neither Hamas nor any other Palestinian group is under any moral or political obligation to recognise Israel's right to exist outside of its 1947 borders. The PLO (Fateh faction) may have signed agreements implicitly or explicitly recognising Israel's control over a wider territory, but Hamas, as a democratically elected government, still representing more than 50% of Palestinians, is entitled to take its own stand and, if necessary revoke any past PLO-Israel agreements (just as Israel has effectively done by building the separation wall). This line of thinking may be dogmatic, impractical and dangerous but it is entirely logical, just and legitimate. One has to start from what is logical, just and legitimate and proceed to making compromises if necessary.

Hamas is making a fatal strategic error in failing to recognise Israel's right to exist within its 1947 borders. Just like the Arab countries which never accepted the UN partition and set out to destroy the Jewish state, Hamas is criminally selling an impossible dream to its young and desparate followers that jihad, suicide bombing and killing Israeli settlers would win back lands and secure a lasting peace. Hamas is alienating the world against it, dividing the Palestinian people and allowing the regimes in Syria and Iran to manipulate it for their own political ends. Yet, Prime Minister Hanniyeh, despite his rhetoric, is a pragmatic man compared to the Damascus-based political leader of Hamas, Khaled Mashaal, who is stubborn and ideologically driven. Ideological and fundamentalist religious leaders pose a grave danger to their own people because they can lead them to destruction, have an inflated view of their own strength, do not know how to engage with their opponents and have a predictable one-track mind that can be easily manipulated by bigger powers. The Arab world has had more than its fair share of leaders like him since 1947.

Mashaal has given Israeli hardliners a perfect excuse to block any progress towards a two-state solution (no matter how illusory such progress might have been in the first place) and continue to expand settlements and capture territory with the separation wall. On the other hand, Israel and the Quartet have absolutely no right to dictate to Hamas that it should recognise Israel's right to exist outside of its 1947 borders. They have essentially sent a hypocritical message to the Palestinians that "you can vote for whoever you like, but if we don't approve of the winner we don't have to deal with them". Israel has gone further by seeking to destabilise and bring down the Hamas government. Every inch of territory captured after 1947 is therefore legitimately open to negotiation, even if takes 200 years to achieve a settlement. In reality, Israelis and Palestinians who care about their children and value life, would likely come to their senses and compromise in their lifetime. Any reasonable, pragmatic and fair-minded person would wish no less for both peoples.

Mashaal and Hanniyeh (representing Hamas) and President Abbas (representing Fatah) are now locked in discussions in Saudi Arabia in an effort to avert a Palestinian civil war. Syria and Iran have pressured Mashaal against compromising and Israel and the Quartet have called on Hanniyeh to recognise Israel, renounce violence and respect previous agreements signed with the PLO, as a price for resuming peace talks.

Hanniyeh needs to show leadership, courage and wisdom by recognising Israel within its 1947 borders immediately. He should ban and punish any attacks against Israeli civilians anywhere and start negotiating with Ehud Olmert as part of a Palestinian national unity government. Doing so would legitimise Hamas in the eyes of most countries of the world. But many would regard this as a ridiculous negotiating position for Hamas to take when the PLO has effectively accepted Israeli control of territories captured in 1967 and beyond, as envisaged in the road map. Israeli hardliners would also try to torpedo any peace negotiations. Nevertheless, compromises are needed on both sides and Israel should not get away with thinking that success on the battle field and expanding illegal settlements buys her long term security or legitimacy. The road map itself is a ridiculous plan that cannot possibly withstand the test of time and Hamas would be perfectly entitled to reject it and seek to negotiate more economically and politically viable alternatives. No matter what peace strategy Hamas and Fateh may be able to formulate, the strategy must be based on a clear commitment to a negotiated settlement and non-violence (except in self defence against unprovoked attacks by the Israeli military).

The real battle is to win over world opinion while making it easier for Israeli moderates to win elections so they can persuade the majority of Israelis to trade viable land for peace and security. The alternative for Hamas is to continue to get in the elephant's way, blindfolded, and get trampled to death.

Cheap oil and inflatable democracy

George Bush, all of a sudden, has gone green. He says America should no longer depend on Mid East oil. Let me translate his words:

"Fellow Americans, the mess in Iraq.. is all your fault. You made me go after cheap gas but the Chinese got there first. The gas is no longer cheap and I can't control the region any more, so I'm quitting Iraq".

Levantine Dreamhouse reports on the openning of the first "Terror-Free" gas station in Omaha. The people behind the campaign claim that buying Middle East oil funds terrorism against the US and Israel. Who is the terrorist here?

So far, nearly 700,000 Iraqis have died and 1.6 million displaced in the pursuit of cheap oil and inflatable democracy.

Click on image to enlarge
You might argue that it is the Iraqis who are killing each other. Well, what do you expect? That's what usually happens when you take the lid off a pressure cooker. Any responsible (and I do not mean moral) superpower would have used overwhelming force to invade and stabilise a country, with the minimum of casualties, but no, the "clever" Rumsfeld thought he was going on a picnic and wanted to do it on the cheap. Or was he super clever and super arrogant in trying to divide and rule?

Here is where morality comes in. As a full-scale civil war erupts in Iraq, you either bring in 20 times the number of troops and stay on for at least 7 years or pack your bags and go. Anything in between is both delusional and immoral. When the so-called insurgents and bandits scent weakness they go for everyone's jugular.

What we are witnessing now is the American administration, devoid of any morality, trying to save face and retreat gradually after blaming the Iraqi government for incompetence. The administration has not even explored the idea of a neutral multinational Islamic security force to fill the vacuum, even though some countries have expressed interest in providing troops (e.g Pakistan and Malaysia).

George will no doubt retire to his ranch with a clear conscience that he has done his best to turn Americans away from buying terror oil. The neocons and Condi have already given up on the idea of parachuting down inflatable parliaments in far away places. In any case, they are now too busy planning a war against Iran, so the "birth pangs of democracy" are upon us (again).