Author: Peter Larson

Why would a Canadian have “Palestine in the heart”?

JSCO logo

I was recently asked to make the keynote speech at the annual meeting of the Jerusalem Community Services of Ontario (JCSO), a Palestinian community organization. The title of the event this year was “Palestine in the Heart”, and I felt privileged, as a non-Palestinian, to be invited.

It was a fun event, with a large crowd, perhaps 200 people. The tone of the evening was both cheerful and nostalgic and featured many cultural events – poetry reading and a little play reminding people of various areas of Palestine – Jaffa, Haifa, Nablus, Hebron and of course, Jerusalem.

I was one of 2 guest speakers and was invited to talk about whatever I wanted. As I prepared for my address, I reflected on the evolution of my own thoughts regarding where truth and justice lie in the difficult Israel/Palestine issue. If you are interested in my speech, please read on.

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Do you want to know what Canadian Jews think about Israel’s proposed “Jewish State” law? Listen in to a CIJA webinar on December 10th @ 2:00 p.m. (eastern)

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“Our view is that Israel’s right to exist as a Jewish State is absolute and non negotiable” – Stephen Harper speaking to Israeli Knesset. 

In recent weeks, the Israeli Knesset has been debating a proposed law (called the “Jewish State law”) which would codify Israel’s Jewishness, making it clearer than ever that being Jewish is more important than being democratic. (This has long been the practice in Israel, but the law makes explicit that which was implicit before. Among other things, it removes Arabic as an official language.)

It has provoked debate in Israel and in the Jewish diaspora. Canadian Jews seem to be concerned as well. (more…)

Ten things I did not see (or hear) during my recent 3 week trip to Israel/Palestine

Map of Israel/Palestine

On this map you can see many of the places I just visited during a 3 week tour to Israel/Palestine: Tel Aviv/Jaffa, Jerusalem, Bethlehem, Nazareth, Hebron, the destroyed bedouin village of al-Araqib, and Canada Park, (itself built on top of 3 Palestinian villages destroyed in 1967).

Together with 7 other curious Canadians on a “come and see tour”, I met with 27 Israeli and Palestinian NGO’s, as well as international organizations. We visited the Knesset and various historical sites. And we also got to talk to many individual Palestinians and Israelis.

We saw a lot, heard a lot and learned a lot. But sometimes its instructive to reflect on what you didn’t see or hear.

Here are 10 significant things we did not see or hear, while we were there.

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Why is this young Jewish man opposed to the Jewish National Fund of Canada?

Tyler Levitan is the National Coordinator of Independent Jewish Voices, a small group of progressive Canadian Jews. IJV has been spearheading a campaign to get the Jewish National Fund of Canada (JNF) delisted as a tax deductible Canadian charity. JNF Canada annually collects over $10 million, mostly from Canadian Jews, for projects in Israel. I caught up with Tyler to ask him about the IJV campaign. Read the interview here:

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