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Bread and Roses III
Report on an art exhibit in Tel Aviv...
Platform of the Organization for Democratic Action
Toward election to the 18th Knesset
ODA (DA’AM in Arabic), a party uniting Jews and Arabs, seeks to move society toward socialism. To this end we maintain connections with workers’ movements and labor unions throughout the world. We present an alternative both to predatory capitalism and to religious fundamentalism.
1. The Palestinian question
ODA seeks real peace, to be based on Israeli withdrawal from all the Occupied Territories, including East Jerusalem. We believe that the political conflict cannot be solved without the establishment of a sovereign, independent Palestinian state. The current preoccupation with "shelf agreements," which include Israel's annexation of settlement blocs, foils any chance of reaching a sustainable peace. More...
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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
Address
P.O.B. 35252
Tel Aviv 61351
Israel
Visiting Address
Rehov Ha-Aliyah 43
Second Floor
phone +972-3-537-3268
fax +972-3-537-3269
Links
Workers' Advice Center
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 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.
It is the first time in the thirty years of negotiations that a solid consensus has formed concerning the likely fate of the talks: all parties expect failure. It will be nothing short of a miracle if Obama succeeds in bridging the gaps between a right-leaning Israeli government and a Palestinian delegation under heavy pressure from Islamist opponents. Israeli PM Bibi Netanyahu refuses to commit on continuing the construction freeze in the settlements, and there is no indication that he has made a specific proposal concerning future borders. It is hard to imagine that the Palestinians will manage to wrest from him, Mr. Greater Israel, what they could not get from the Ehuds, Barak and Olmert.
Despite the near hopelessness of achieving peace, the region's leaders swarm to Washington in their umpteenth attempt to square the circle. The reason is simple. The consensus on the probability of failure sits in uneasy company with another consensus, held by the same parties, namely, that the status quo must not be allowed to continue.
More...
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.
Guide to Ending the Siege of Gaza
by Yacov Ben Efrat
he IDF takeover of the Turkish humanitarian flotilla has shaken everything up. Israel finds itself blockaded too: an unprecedented international diplomatic siege. An apparently local incident lacking any military or political importance has turned into an entanglement of far-reaching strategic significance. Turkey, Israel’s loyal regional ally for the past 60 years, darling of the West, has switched sides – friend to enemy – becoming the radical Arab camp’s most prominent spokesperson, supporter of Hamas, and proponent of the legitimacy of Hamas’ hold on the Gaza Strip.
After the Flotilla of Blood: No More Excuses for Israel
by Yacov Ben Efrat
srael's attempt to divert argument away from its blockade on Gaza, and over to the resistance that its troops encountered while attacking the Blue Marmara, is futile and grotesque. Let's suppose for a moment that its commandos were attacked, as Israel claims, while invading this ship in the Freedom Flotilla. Here you have soldiers sent to prevent civilians from breaking a siege, while there you have 1.5 million Palestinians caught in a three-year humanitarian catastrophe.
