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Bread and Roses V
Annual art exhibit in Tel Aviv...
Vision of the Organization for Democratic Action
ODA-DA'AM: Reveille for the Working Class
The following piece will soon be published in Solution: Israel-Palestine, edited by Joshua Simon, Sternberg Press, Berlin - New York.
he Middle East conflict will not find a solution within the current array of forces. On the one side there is American hegemony (somewhat shaken), Israeli refusal, an internal Palestinian schism, and dictatorial Arab regimes. On the other side is extremist Islamic fundamentalism. Those who have sought a solution under these conditions have reaped, until now, intifada, blockade, the separation barrier, and war. The negotiations taking place under the auspices of the Obama Administration will not undo the stalemate. A real solution will not be possible except as part of an international social, political and economic change, affecting not just Israel, the Palestinians, and the Arab world, but also the Western industrial nations that today are at the heart of the capitalist order.
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Sindyanna of Galilee
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CHALLENGE is indexed by the Alternative Press Index.
Assad, Israel, and the world
Yacov Ben Efrat
At the outbreak of the revolution in Syria two years ago, the Israeli government announced that events there were none of its business and it would not interfere. Forty years of quiet on the Golan Heights had led Israel to prefer Assad over any conceivable replacement. Now, however, when the rebels rule wide areas, when the Syrian army is falling apart, and when the regime's survival is in the balance, Israeli policy appears to have shifted from passivity to active intervention.
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Lapid’s war against the workers
by Yacov Ben Efrat
air Lapid had hardly settled into his Knesset seat before the Finance Ministry declared war on the ultra-Orthodox, on the Histadrut, on the monopolies – in short, a world war. What the father Tommy began with Netanyahu in 2003, the well-disciplined son is completing ten years later, fulfilling his father’s directives. Tommy Lapid has passed away, but Netanyahu has received renewed strength to continue the process he began as finance minister in Ariel Sharon’s government. Netanyahu paid a heavy price when he lost the general elections to Ehud Olmert, but a man like Bibi doesn’t despair – especially when another Lapid arrives to restore his self-confidence.
Obama’s Turkish Delight
by Yacov Ben Efrat
hroughout Obama’s three day visit, we couldn’t understand what the hell he came for. What brings an American president to Israel just two days after a new government is formed, while in the US a fateful debate is raging over the budget and economic policy? For three days we searched for the afikoman Obama had hidden, with no success. But just a few seconds after Obama boarded Air Force One to Jordan, the announcement went out: Netanyahu had spoken with Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, and apologized. The strategic relations between Israel and Turkey were renewed with Obama’s mediation, and the US president chalked up a gigantic strategic achievement.
When will this become an Intifada?
by Yacov Ben Efrat
he history of Palestinian political prisoners is replete with struggles that have claimed many victims but that have always had two characteristics: first, they expressed a collective decision, and second, their demands were focused on improving prison conditions. In these respects, the series of hunger strikes beginning in 2012 with Khader Adnan (66 days), a series which has since included others and is now continuing dangerously with Samer Issawi (more than 200 days) is exceptional. Each strike is the consequence of a private decision, and its purpose is to force Israel to liberate the striker.
What’s left on the Palestinian side of the Separation Barrier?
by Yacov Ben Efrat
n March, after Bibi Netanyahu forms Israel’s new government, U.S. President Barack Obama intends to arrive for a first historic visit to Israel and the Palestinian Authority. Obama wants to talk with the Israeli people, but has nothing of note to tell them. First on the American president’s crowded agenda will be Iran, and then Syria. Last will be the Palestinian issue, concerning which he has no new initiative.
Daam Challenges the Arab Voters
by Assaf Adiv
hen it comes to the elections among the Arab voters, it seems that reality has stood still: as if we are not in the midst of the Arab spring, as if hundreds of citizens are not being slaughtered in Syria daily. Thus, the vast majority of the Arab voters voted for the same three traditional Arab parties: The Islamic – Tibi Bloc, The National Progressive Tajamu and the Democratic Front for Peace and Equality (DFPE, also known as Hadash).
US prepares Oslo-style agreement for Syria
by Yacov Ben Efrat
heikh Ahmad Moaz al-Khatib’s declaration that he is ready to talk to the Assad regime came like a bolt out of the blue. A few days before he travelled to the Munich Security Conference, the Syrian National Coalition leader wrote on his personal Facebook page that talks would be dependent on the release of 160,000 political detainees and the return of passports belonging to opposition members who have been unable to enter their home country. On the same day, the Syrian National Council, which had been the main Syrian opposition until the National Coalition was formed, declared that the leader’s statement did not represent the views of the opposition.
Vote!
by Yacov Ben Efrat
n January 15, Israel’s leading liberal newspaper Haaretz printed an unusual opinion piece. Unusual not just because it was printed in two languages, Hebrew and Arabic, which in itself was extraordinary – but also because of the content. The newspaper is doing some soul-searching born of deep despair, because for the first time in Israel’s history the election results are known to all before voting has even begun. The merger of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud with Avigdor Lieberman’s Yisrael Beitenu has left the opposition powerless. The picture looks even grimmer in the light of the increasing strength of Habayit Hayehudi, headed by Naftali Bennett, and the disintegration of the center-left into four parties: Kadima, Hatnuah, Yesh Atid and Labor.
A new left arrives in Israel
by Shany Littman
sma Agbarieh-Zahalka is ecstatic. For the first time she sees clearly that the way to the Knesset in Jerusalem is shorter than ever. She is convinced that this time the Daam Workers Party, which she chairs, will cross the threshold, despite the fact that tens of thousands of votes stand between success and the 2645 votes received by the party in the 2009 elections. In an interview I conducted with her before the last elections four years ago, she seemed more introverted, more serious, working diligently yet without hope. But something has changed in four years, something that even she never envisioned would happen so quickly, although she had been waiting impatiently.
Riding the wave to the Knesset: The Daam campaign
by Yacov Ben Efrat
ne might think that these elections are meaningless. The results are ostensibly known in advance, like a repeat broadcast of a soccer match. There’s a feeling of defeatism in the air, and people relate to the rightwing as they might to the weather: one can talk about it, but it can’t be changed. It’s hard to believe that just a year and half ago, summer 2011, citizens occupied the streets, new ideas blossomed, politicians appeared despicable and defeated, and Tel Aviv’s youth burst out of their indifference and made their opinions known, without giving a damn for the opinions of the “adults” who had disappointed them so.
Asma and Naftali
Agbarieh and Bennett run for the Knesset
by Igal Sarna
rom Yedioth Aharonot, Weekend supplement, December 14, 2012
November 29 at the UN: A warning to Israeli society
by Yacov Ben Efrat
n November 29, the UN will recognize a Palestinian state for the second time. Once again this will be recognition on paper alone – a forlorn effort to bring an end to this tragedy. In light of the results of the Likud primaries (the internal party vote which determines the ranking of party leaders in the Knesset list), and in light of polls predicting greater support for the rightwing bloc, this recognition is unlikely to have much effect on the ground. Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza will not be dancing Dabke (Palestinian folk dance) in celebration, and they don’t expect much from President Mahmoud Abbas (Abu Mazen), whose status has plummeted.
Netanyahu and Haniyeh: The common denominator
by Yacov Ben Efrat
hat do the top leaders of Israel and Hamas have in common? They share the same enemy: PA President Mahmoud Abbas (Abu Mazen). Abbas embodies all that Ismail Haniyeh despises: secularism and compromise with Israel. Benjamin Netanyahu, for his part, hates Abbas because his moderation threatens Israel's control of the West Bank. Abbas wants to achieve peace with Israel on the basis of the 1967 lines, including dismantlement of the settlements. He threatens Netanyahu's political future, for in paying the price of peace, the Israeli PM would have to part from his extremist right-wing allies, as well as the Land of the Patriarchs.
The Rothschild protest: Israel's "1905 revolution"
by Assaf Adiv
n Asher Schechter's Rothschild – A Chronicle of Protest (Hebrew), Published by Kav Adom – HaKibbutz HaMeuhad, 2012, 309 p.
The Bibi-Lieberman Bombshell
by Yacov Ben Efrat
inyamin (Bibi) Netanyahu's call for early elections initially evoked an instinctive response: Who needs this? The result of normal elections, scheduled for next fall, was predictable: Bibi could look forward to another four years as Prime Minister. He had split the Labor Party and pulverized his main rival, Kadima, dispersing its 29 mandates in all directions, with the result that no one on the political horizon could even come close to posing a threat. Nevertheless, elections are always a step into the unknown. Before Bibi's announcement, his predecessor as PM, Ehud Olmert—who had been ousted because of corruption charges—won a court victory and was able to contemplate a return to political life. There was also action from Haim Ramon, who had been forced into early political retirement because of an illicit kiss. Ramon is working to return Zipi Livni to the arena and unite forces with Olmert. Ramon's close friend, Aryeh Deri of the Sephardic religious party Shas, is returning to politics after ten years, two of which he spent in prison for bribery. This pool of old-time sharks was enough to scare Netanyahu.
Time to dump the Oslo Accords
by Yacov Ben Efrat
n a recent TV appearance, Yossi Beilin voiced his hope that the Palestinians will carry out their threat to annul the Oslo Accords, which he helped design. Annulment would spell the end of the Palestinian Authority (PA), throwing direct responsibility for the residents of the Occupied Territories upon the shoulders of Israel.
Bad movie blues
by Yacov Ben Efrat
he Arab world hates America. Nobody denies this fact, but it’s not just the Arabs. The Iranians hate America, the Russians can’t stand America, and even Benjamin Netanyahu loathes America. Hatred for America is not unique to Arab genes – it is trans-cultural and trans-ethnic. However, the world also admires America to the same extent that it hates it, because America is an economic and military power. What is more, Hollywood has caused us to identify with America's heroes – and as we well know, cinema has a hypnotic influence on the psychology of the masses.
The hot Palestinian summer
by Yacov Ben Efrat
e can relax: the disturbances in the Occupied Territories appear to have subsided, and the would-be third Intifada may have skipped over 2012 as it did over 2011. Back then it was supposed to break out after Abu Mazen vainly sought a Palestinian state at the UN Security Council. Israeli intelligence missed the mark in 2011 and misled others. This year, when all its analysts were worrying about how to get through the Jewish holidays in peace and quiet, they completely missed what was about to happen in the Palestinian territories. The protest broke out in reaction against a hike in petrol prices, derived from a similar price hike by the Israeli government, which seeks to reduce its budgetary deficit. After the Israeli social protestors tired and lost interest in demonstrations, the baton has passed to the Palestinians, who suffer many times more from the cost of living. What can you do: after 45 years of an Occupation that flooded their markets with Israeli goods, they too eat Tnuva cottage cheese, whose price triggered protest in Israel last year.
online 16.05.12
You want a welfare state? It's not about nostalgia, it's about class struggle
by Assaf Adiv
RSS Feed
Subscribe to the CHALLENGE RSS feed and get a notification whenever a new article is published.
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.
