http://www.challenge-mag.com/en/home CHALLENGE is a leftist magazine focusing on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict within a global context. Published in Tel Aviv, it features political analysis, investigative reporting, interviews, eye-witness reports, gender studies, arts, and more. Its editorial staff includes Jews and Arabs. en Thu, 19 Jan 2012 00:00:00 +0200 Thu, 19 Jan 2012 00:00:00 +0200 s.CMS http://www.challenge-mag.com/en/challenge.rss contact@challenge-mag.com 2012 CHALLENGE, Tel Aviv On Saturday, December 17th 2011, the provincial town of Sidi Bouzid in Tunisia marked one year since the death of Mohamed Bouazizi, the hero of the Arab revolution. The Tunisian television network Al-Wataniya broadcast the ceremony live. Crowds armed with neither flags nor signs gathered in the main square of Sidi Bouzid. It was clear that they were there out of solidarity, not because someone forced them to march to the square on their day off. Women and men who were interviewed for the broadcast spoke in simple terms about their expectations from the elected government and from the revolution in which they took part. An especially touching interview was given by the sister of Mohamed Bouaziz, who expressed absolute sympathy with the goals of the revolution. The speakers who went up on the improvised stage all emphasized the demands that lay at the heart of the Jasmine Revolution – democracy and social justice. The Islamic movement Al-Nahda, which had recently won the election, sent one representative to the event, who received the microphone after local youths and representatives of secular movements finished speaking, and the speech he gave did not differ in content or spirit from those preceding it. http://www.challenge-mag.com/en/article__322/the_arab_spring_is_alive_and_well_and_living_in_egypt Assaf Adiv http://www.challenge-mag.com/en/article__322/the_arab_spring_is_alive_and_well_and_living_in_egypt Thu, 19 Jan 2012 00:00:00 +0200 The title of this lecture suggests a contradiction. The Muslim movements are religious, basing themselves on Sharia law, and oppose democracy. Their source of authority is the Koran, while the source of democracy’s authority is human reason, individual and collective will – the people. Nonetheless, this month we celebrate one year since the Arab Spring began, and in amazement we follow the revolutions sparked by the Arab youth. These youth demanded regime-change for justice and freedom, but when change is translated into the ballot, the Muslim factions come out strong. http://www.challenge-mag.com/en/article__320/the_muslim_brotherhood_and_democracy Yacov Ben Efrat http://www.challenge-mag.com/en/article__320/the_muslim_brotherhood_and_democracy Sun, 15 Jan 2012 00:00:00 +0200 Like a herd of elephants, the racist legislation proposals from the Likud and Israel Beitenu are galloping through the Knesset, spreading fumes of fascism into every sphere of society (see [b]Box[/b] below). The proposals are aimed at anything that in any way represents or provides the smallest crumb of defense for the Palestinians or their supporters: the Arabic language, the media, freedom of speech, NGOs, the Supreme Court, artists, academics and universities, and there are more on the way. At the same time, women are ejected from the public sphere, while workers such as the resident doctors and social workers are treated with ignominy and aggression. If sympathy for the communist bloc or the Arab states was once considered treasonous, today it’s enough to “denounce” Israel to Europe or the US in order to earn the title of traitor. Drunk with power, the rightwing majority in the Knesset behaves like a mob, and attempts to change the rules of the game and the character of the state. Why? Because that’s what it wants, and above all, it believes it can. http://www.challenge-mag.com/en/article__319/like_a_herd_of_elephants Michal Schwartz http://www.challenge-mag.com/en/article__319/like_a_herd_of_elephants Thu, 15 Dec 2011 00:00:00 +0200 Get to the damn table! US Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta half pleaded, half ordered, thoroughly in despair as negotiations between Israel and the Palestinian Authority remain frozen. Panetta was speaking during the recent Saban Forum, yet none of those who were really meant to hear had even come to this annual event for debating Middle East policy – neither Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu nor Israel’s foreign or defense ministers. It appears they don’t give a damn about Panetta, and are not willing to accept his suggestions or reprimands. Panetta is a loser. He’s losing Iraq and getting bogged down in Afghanistan. He cooperated with Turkey to get rid of his ally Hosni Mubarak, and then got a slap in the face when Egyptian democracy granted two-thirds of the parliamentary seats to the Muslim Brotherhood and the Salafis. He doesn’t understand a thing! http://www.challenge-mag.com/en/article__318/get_to_the_damn_table! Yacov Ben Efrat http://www.challenge-mag.com/en/article__318/get_to_the_damn_table! Mon, 12 Dec 2011 00:00:00 +0200 History repeats itself, first as tragedy, second as farce, Marx famously observed. He was speaking about the time of Napoleon III in the mid-19th century, but the observation holds true for the Egyptian revolution. Tahrir Square is the same square, the youth are the same youth, and the police are the same police. Only the slogans have changed – instead of calling for the resignation of Hosni Mubarak, they are calling for resignation of Field Marshal Mohamed Hussein Tantawi, head of the ruling Supreme Council of the Armed Forces. Unlike the first uprising that broke out in January, which united a wide range of forces, there is no consensus within this second wave, and it offers no clear way out of the crisis. http://www.challenge-mag.com/en/article__317/egypt_between_tragedy_and_farce Yacov Ben Efrat http://www.challenge-mag.com/en/article__317/egypt_between_tragedy_and_farce Wed, 30 Nov 2011 00:00:00 +0200 The Israeli government decided in mid-November 2011 to continue delaying the transfer of $100 million in tax revenues to the Palestinian Authority ([b]PA[/b]). The pleas of Defense Minister Ehud Barak and senior IDF officers didn’t help, even though they explained that the money was needed to pay the wages of the policemen responsible for security in the West Bank. The resolute positions of Finance Minister Yuval Steinitz and Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman held out – no transfers would be made. This delay is the punishment that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu decided to mete out to the PA for daring to request membership in UNESCO – and receiving it too. The UNESCO request was part of the Palestinian bid for recognition as a state at the UN Security Council – a bid seen by Israel as a declaration of war, which led the IDF to carry out a slew of exercises to prepare for a possible third intifada in September. http://www.challenge-mag.com/en/article__315/requiem_for_the_palestinian_authority Yacov Ben Efrat http://www.challenge-mag.com/en/article__315/requiem_for_the_palestinian_authority Wed, 23 Nov 2011 00:00:00 +0200 The start of the Knesset’s winter session marked the end of the protest season. With President Shimon Peres looking on, and with social protest leaders in the gallery, Benjamin Netanyahu opened with a social-political speech which left no doubt as to where he’s headed: on the one hand he declares war on the Palestinian Authority (PA), and on the other he embraces the leaders of the social protest. After his nightmarish summer, the prime minister has managed to stabilize his political position, and he has discovered the formula for keeping the coalition intact until October 2013. http://www.challenge-mag.com/en/article__314/social-protest_leaders_strengthen_netanyahu Yacov Ben Efrat http://www.challenge-mag.com/en/article__314/social-protest_leaders_strengthen_netanyahu Fri, 4 Nov 2011 00:00:00 +0200 The results of the Tunisian elections were expected: The Islamic Ennahda party received most of the votes, and will get 40% of the seats in the new parliament. More than 80% of those eligible turned out to vote, and their political inclinations were clear. The elections were transparent and free; all parties accepted the results without appealing, and the Islamic party is accepted by all as a legitimate player. All are committed to the democratic rules of the game, and all understand that the future of Tunisia and the Arab Spring depends on the character of the regime to be created when the new constitution is approved. http://www.challenge-mag.com/en/article__313/democracy_challenges_islam Yacov Ben Efrat http://www.challenge-mag.com/en/article__313/democracy_challenges_islam Thu, 3 Nov 2011 00:00:00 +0200 This document was presented at the ODA-Da’am seminar, held in Kufr Qana on September 17, 2011 http://www.challenge-mag.com/en/article__312/the_protest_and_the_revolution Yacov Ben Efrat http://www.challenge-mag.com/en/article__312/the_protest_and_the_revolution Mon, 17 Oct 2011 00:00:00 +0200 Anything but politics! This was the protest movement’s strategy from the start. Not right, not left, and above all, almost every politician that came to visit the tent encampment on Tel Aviv’s Rothschild Boulevard was unceremoniously ejected. The marketing strategy was to avoid any sign of affiliation, and on this apolitical basis support for the protest reached unprecedented dimensions. Even when Histadrut Chairperson Ofer Eini offered his assistance, he too was scornfully turned down – and for good reason: Eini was the right-hand man in the building of the rightwing government, and was key to breaking the social workers’ strike. The protest movement refused to allow him to rehabilitate his public image on its account, and justly so. http://www.challenge-mag.com/en/article__311/social_protest_leaders_are_losing_their_way Yacov Ben Efrat http://www.challenge-mag.com/en/article__311/social_protest_leaders_are_losing_their_way Sun, 16 Oct 2011 00:00:00 +0200