Unsung heroes
All over the world, Israeli peace activists are being showered with awards and attention. Why is it, then, that the Israeli media and the public ignore them?

It seems that in Europe you are much more welcome than in Israel.

"I have a strange feeling when I go from Israel to Europe. Instead of being a member of a small and persecuted minority, I suddenly become the majority. In the foreign ministries of the European countries I find an atmosphere of complete agreement. In the past year alone I have been in four such ministries. I can only imagine how I would feel today in the Israeli Foreign Ministry. I am completely cut off from Israeli diplomacy. They are vigorously propagandizing abroad in favor of Sharon, and former leftists are the worst of all, because they want to prove their loyalty. At all the prizes I have received to date, the ambassadors from the Palestine Liberation Organization in those [prize-awarding] countries were present, and only once was the Israeli ambassador present, and it was extremely moving. That was in Germany in 1995, still during the Oslo period, and our ambassador was Avi Primor. He and the PLO ambassador shook hands festively in front of the entire audience, and it was the first and last time that happened."

Are you sometimes concerned by the possibility that when you level criticism at Israel abroad, you are liable to cause harm to the country?

"Because I believe that Israeli-Palestinian peace is an existential need for the State of Israel, I don't find this approach valid. What causes us harm is the government policy. I keep saying in my lectures that you don't have to be against Palestine or in favor of Israel, but in favor of both."
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War provides cover for a fresh Israeli crackdown
While the world focuses on Iraq, 17 Palestinians have been killed and more than 1000 detained as Israeli forces step up 'anti-terrorism' raids. Robert Tait in Jerusalem reports

Road Map to Nowhere: Because Israel Says So

There is more than one problem with the so-called “Road Map for Peace” in the Middle East. But the greatest hurdle of them all is Israel’s rejection of the plan, put forth by the United States, jointly with the rest of the so-called Middle East quartet, consisting of the US, the European Union, Russia and the United Nations.

Israel has made it clear that it has no interest in the comprehensive plan, detailing a final solution to one of the Middle East’s most lingering conflicts. Clear rejection was uttered directly by Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon on Saturday, January 18, 2003, ahead of his country’s general elections. In an Interview with Newsweek, Sharon claimed, “Oh, the quartet is nothing! Don’t take it seriously. There is [another] plan that will work.”
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