New suggestion: Dangle the EU carrot in front of Israelis and Palestinians

Nov. 27, 2008

Professors Richard N. Rosecrance and Ehud Eiran have suggested that perhaps if Israel and the Palestinians were offered membership in the European Union, they'd be able to nail down a peace agreement.

Richard N. Rosecrance is a professor at Harvard Kennedy School's Belfer Center and on the policy planning council at the State Department while Ehud Eiran is a research fellow at the Belfer Center and served in Israel's prime minister's office.

The two list the failures of all previous attempts for a peace deal: Oslo, the Gaza disengagement, and even the Intifadas (uprisings). They lame opponents of peace agreements: Israeli settlers and also call to task weak political leadership on both sides.

Then they go on to sugest this shocker: Offer the Israelis and Palestinians EU membership. I had to pause, but I read on. Giving the two EU status would not only provide fresh vision, but it would serve to heal the historic wounds between Christians, Jews and Muslim. I'll just let them state this in their own words:

To find a path forward, we need to go back to the origins of it all. It was Europe's violent rejection of Jews in the past that begat modern Zionism and paradoxically contributed to its success. Once the problem, Europe may now be the solution. To both encourage and reward a territorial and security agreement between the Israelis and Palestinians, it should offer a clear path for their membership in the European Union.

It could help the parties fashion a settlement. The prospect of joining the richest union of states on earth is an enormous incentive for reaching a deal. The union's organization and values offer the frame for a peace agreement.

...

Of course, there will be challenges. Israelis are haunted by the potential flood of Palestinian refugees from the open borders that Europe espouses (though the Schengen agreement has been applied differentially). Palestinians are still angered by the result of European colonialism, and Europeans may not want to proceed beyond admitting the nearby Island of Cyprus. Europe might hesitate to broker such a deal, but the possibility of their succeeding with a Palestinian settlement, which had eluded the US for 40 years, would be a strong incentive to proceed. All these are weighty issues, but solvable ones.

The possibility of a day in which the descendants of the ancient foes – Christendom, Islamic civilization and Judaism – come together to resolve the century-long conflict over the Holy Land, finally acknowledging their common ancestor, Abraham, is not far afield. By using entrance to the European Union as an incentive for peace, Europe would not only free the region from a seriously destabilizing quarrel, but may also finally put to rest a millennia-long rivalry.

Interesting take. Not that I think it would work. Thoughts?

Jordan paper refuses ad because of Israeli flag

Nov. 27, 2008

Ok, last week four Israeli newspapers ran full-page ads paid for and produced by the Palestinian Authority calling for Israelis to accept the "Saudi initiative." The initiative itself calls on Israel to cede large swaths of land in exchange for peace and recognition that it is a state even by Arab nations.

But a paper in Jordan, one of only two Arab nations with a peace agreement, albeit tenuous, with Israel has refused to run the ad because it shows an Israeli flag along with an entire border of Islamic nations' flags.

This refusal shows there is "long way to go before we reach peace," Foreign Ministry spokesman Yigal Palmor said Wednesday.

An editor at Al-Arab Al-Yawm was quoted as saying that the advertisement was rejected both because of the flag and because it promoted the idea that Israel accepted the peace initiative, "although Israeli officials have rejected the initiative."

In fact, President Shimon Peres has said it is a good starting point for negotiations. But never mind.

"This shows the gap in terms of freedom of opinion and expression between Israel and its neighbors," Palmor said. "While it was possible for a foreign government to place a political advertisement in Israeli papers it seems impossible for the same government to place a call for Israeli Arab peace in a Jordanian paper, because of the Israeli flag. Some people have a long way to go before we reach peace."

To say the least. And of course, this is Jordan which already recognizes Israel as a state. Imagine the others.

Eye for an eye

Thing to be thankful for #2: That you don't live in Iran!
Nov. 27, 2008

An Iranian court has sentenced a man who blinded a woman with acid also to be blinded with acid, Iranian media is reporting. The nation rules by Islamic law, which implements an eye-for-an eye justice.

The 27-year-old man confessed to attacking Ameneh Bahrami in 2004 to dissuade anyone else from marrying her. Newspapers said that Ameneh asked the court to sentence Majid, only identified by his first name, to be blinded by acid to prevent similar attacks on other women.

Majid may appeal the verdict.

Something for which to be thankful

It' a regular work day everywhere else but in the US, however, this is a story of goodness, hope and thankfulness: Holocaust survivor reunited with her Polish rescuer after 60 years
Nov. 27, 2008

An Israeli woman was reunited yesterday for the first time in 60 years with the woman who hid her and her family during the Holocaust.

Rozia (Seifert) Rothshild and her family lived in an underground bunker, while Wiktoria (Jaworska) Sozanska's Catholic family brought them food and disposed of their waste every day. Sozanska, who risked her own life, along with her widowed mother and five siblings, kept the Jewish family hidden from the Nazis between 1942 and 1944.

They met again at JFK Airport, thanks to the Jewish Foundation for the Righteous.

"I cannot fully express how grateful I am to Wiktoria and her mother Anna. They opened their home and their hearts to me, risking their own lives in order to save me," Rothshild said. "Their bravery is what has allowed me to live and build a wonderful family of my own, with three children and four grandchildren. I am so thankful to them and the Jewish Foundation for the Righteous for making this extraordinary reunion possible."

Rozia Seifert was one of 5,000 Jews from Turka, Poland rounded up to be transported to a ghetto. Wiktoria Jaworska, then a young woman, looked at furniture the Seifart family was selling before their move, but when she learned that the girl would be taken away to the ghetto, she told the family: "We will take care of you. You will come with us."

In the middle of the night, Sozanka's brother Mikolaj Jaworska came to the Seifart home in a hay cart and snuck Rozia, her brother Lucien, her father Mendel and disabled aunt Fanya away, past the eyes of the Germans on patrol.

The Germans raided Turka in the summer of 1944, when the Soviet army began to approach. Sozanka and her mother moved the Seifarts into the woods, where they lived for two weeks until the area was liberated.

After the war, Rozia Seifert met her Israeli husband and immigrated with him, changing her name to Shoshana - the Hebrew version of her name. Wiktoria Sozanka, now in her 80s, lives in Wroclaw, Poland.

"In the many years we have worked with survivors and their rescuers, I remain awestruck by the heroism of the thousands of rescuers who risked their lives to save others. By holding true to their values, these individuals saved Jews from certain death," said JFR Executive Vice President Stanlee Stahl. "We owe a great debt of gratitude to these men and women, and through our work, hope to improve their lives and preserve their stories."

The Jewish Foundation for the Righteous was created in 1986 to provide financial assistance to non-Jews who risked their lives and often the lives of their families to rescue Jews during the Holocaust. Today the JFR supports more than 1,200 aged rescuers in 26 countries. The Foundation preserves the legacy of the rescuers through its internationally lauded Holocaust education program for middle and high school teachers and Holocaust center personnel.

Thank God for happy endings. Happy Thanksgiving!