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Vicky Rossi: Lisa, were you born in Israel and did you grow up there? Lisa: No, I was born in South Africa and my family emigrated to Israel when I was eleven years old. They emigrated to a city just north of Tel Aviv and I grew up and went to school there, although I have travelled abroad a lot since then. Vicky Rossi: What kind of stereotypical ideas of Jewish Israelis have you found that people you have met on your travels have had? Lisa: They have stereotypical images of the soldiers and their rude, bad behaviour. Although I can’t really justify the soldiers’ behaviour, if I have to find something to explain a little bit then I would say that young 18 year olds find themselves having to go straight into the army, having to face the situation of suddenly wearing a uniform, suddenly having to hold guns and having...

On the occasion of the Summer University in Tamera, Portugal, I had the good fortune to gain many insights, away from the well known government rhetoric, into the issues that underlie the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. As part of the Summer University, Sami Awad, Reuven Moskovitz and others gave open, constructive and inspiring talks on the historico-political foundations of the conflict and also on possible ways forward to a sustainable peace. The 10 day Summer University offered me the opportunity also to conduct one formal interview and three informal conversations with participating Palestinians and Israelis. Through the views and initiatives of these grassroots activists, a clear and plausible way forward to peace and reconciliation can be envisioned. Interview # 1 of 4 Reuven MoskovitzPeace activist, co-founder of Neve Shalom,winner of the Aachen Peace Award 2003. Dr. Reuven Moskovitz was born in 1928 in Schtetl Frumsiaca in the northern part of Romania. Expulsed from his...

Vicky Rossi: Inam, you are doing a lot of work with the young people in the Shufat refugee camp, what is life like for these children and adolescents? Inam Wahidi: In the entire camp there are only two schools – one for boys and one for girls – there are no places for the children to play and there is a growing drug problem amongst young people. Vicky Rossi: So only 2 schools for the children of 22,000 inhabitants? Inam Wahidi: Yes. There are around 2,000 children that go to school so there are 2 shifts – one in the morning and one in the afternoon. It is just primary and secondary education because for high school they must go to Jerusalem. My organisation arranges activities for the children in the camp because they don’t have anywhere to play. Many children die because of car accidents in the street. Vicky Rossi: They...

There has been much commentary on the significance of the Lebanon War. There is an unresolved debate about whether there was a victorious side in the war, and even what the idea of victory means. There are various suggestions about how to prevent a new war between Israel and Hezbollah, whether by relying mainly on the UN stabilization force or by reviving diplomacy between Israel and its various adversaries. Is it time to talk with Hezbollah and Hamas? What does the inconclusiveness of the war tell us about the benefits and limitations of military superiority in such a conflict? Could Israel have used its military capabilities more effectively, or were deeper structural restraints operative? These are all important issues, deserving of reflection and dialogue, and hopefully encourage a turn away from violence by all sides in their search for peace and security. Beyond these immediate concerns lies the question of...

LONDON – Despite the rhetoric emanating from Washington, London and Tel Aviv the fact is the situation in the Lebanon is being allowed to return to the status quo ante – as it was before the recent war. All that is being changed is that the UN force is being enlarged dramatically. But there is going to be no mandate for it to disarm Hezbollah. No big change for the Lebanon or for Israel, but a big one for the UN. The UN is now back in favor as everyone’s favourite peacekeeper, having recovered from the setbacks of the early 1990s when for different reasons it fell on its face in Rwanda, Bosnia and Somalia. Now Washington happily pays much of its bills. The Chinese contribute more military and civilian policemen than any of the other Security Council member. The big powers airlift its troops to the field and send...

LONDON – Many of the great and the good have dismissed the utility of nuclear weapons as well as finding the idea of their use morally indefensible but still they exist in enormous numbers in the arsenals of the great powers. Secretary of Defence Robert McNamara and Secretary of State Dean Rusk both came to be convinced during their tenure in the Kennedy administration that their use was “unthinkable”. President George H.W. Bush has written that in private he ruled out a nuclear response during the 1991 Gulf War although in public his Administration did not. General Colin Powell, then the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, in his autobiography recalls chiding his boss, Dick Cheney, for even considering it. Paul Nitze, one of the principal architects of containing the Soviet Union by nuclear deterrence, went even further. He argued in a Washington Post article in 1994 that it...

LONDON – The most successful socialist society on earth goes to the polls on Sunday. It is not the socialism of Lenin, and certainly not of Mao. Nor, at the other extreme, is it the New Labour type of Tony Blair. Yet it is the socialism that the dreamers, thinkers and writers from Voltaire to George Bernard Shaw to Galbraith always imagined – a successful mix of human endeavour with human compassion, where the doors of a classless education are open to everyone, where it is not too difficult to get ahead, where you can make money, but you have to share it – with those who are not having it so good today and with yourself at some future age when you might be ill, infirm, lonely and unemployed. On the other hand, if you don’t miss a step and you die comfortable you can leave every penny to your...

LONDON – The wheels seem to spin in the sand as we hurtle down the bush track mile after mile from Mtwara, the small town on the Tanzania/Mozambique border. The land is parched, waiting desperately for the rains. In the villages we pass, little thatched houses give way to fields stripped bare of their meagre produce. This is truly one of the poorest backwaters of this very poor country. Then suddenly there is a clearing in it and in the middle, well what is? – The set for a James Bond film? Or a secret Tanzanian missile site, perhaps rented out to the encroaching Chinese African empire? The new president of Tanzania, Jakaya Kikwete, jumps out of the lead car of our convoy and briskly walks up to a white man in a white helmet and grabs his hand. Soon all of us are ensconced in helmets and goggles and...

Hans Blix – pålitlig som en Volvo Hans BlixAVVÄPNA IRAKÖversättning Ulla DanielssonBonnier Fakta, Stockholm 2004 Få svenskar har spelat en så framträdande roll i den värld som följde efter det kalla krigets slut som Hans Blix, under en dramatisk tid chef för UNMOVIC, FN:s vapeninspektörer i Irak. Många minns säkert hans dramatiska framträdanden i FN:s säkerhetsråd under början av 2003 i offentliga möten, globalt direktsända i TV. Den gången vägdes hans ord på guldvåg. Skulle Blix tal innehålla den “rykande pistol”, det bevis på dolda massförströrelsevapen som världen fruktade – eller förväntade sig? Den 30 mars utkom på svenska hans “Avväpna Irak”, en skildring av det dramatiska förspelet till kriget, sett ur Blix’ perspektiv. Boken ger intrikata inblickar i det diplomatiska och politiska spelet bakom kulisserna, inte minst av hur en del politiker i Bushadminstrationen på olika sätt försöker manipulera vapeninspektörerna för att få stöd för ett krig som man...

LONDON – Perhaps it is time if not to re-write the Balfour declaration, at least to re-direct it, back to Europe from whence most Jewish settlers in Israel have come. The animosity that is making the clash of civilizations a current reality (though historically, pace Samule Huntington, it never was a permanent phenomenon) is driven first and foremost by the unsettled issue of the division of Palestine. If this could be solved Al Qaeda’s influence would sharply diminish. So would Hamas’ and Hizbollah’s. But left to stew as it is now, it is spilling over into Lebanon and perhaps in a few years into a nuclear confrontation between Israel and Iran, or even, if President Pervez Musharaff is assassinated and a more Islamic minded president comes to power, between Israel and Pakistan. As relations between Jew and Muslim deteriorate not only Israel is becoming unliveable for ordinary people (read Israeli...

On Thursday, 3rd August, the Iranian interior ministry announced that the Centre for Defence of Human Rights (CDHR), co-founded by the 2003 Nobel peace laureate Shirin Ebadi, was an illegal organization. “Any activity by this centre is illegal, and violators of this decision will be prosecuted,” an interior ministry statement said, claiming the CDHR “had not obtained the proper permit”. This is yet another serious violation of human rights by the present Iranian government. At a time, that the Iranian government is under so much international pressure, it is extremely unwise for it to alienate the Iranian population further and to isolate itself from liberal sentiments throughout the world. After having written an article on the unfair treatment of women in Iran (Iran Awakening?), I received an email message from a supporter of the Iranian regime, arguing that at a time when Iran is under serious threat of attack and...

To the President ofthe UN General Assembly,Mr. Jan Eliasson Lund, Sweden – August 14, 2006 The board of the Transnational Foundation for Peace and Future Research, TFF, Sweden sends the following Open Letter that aims to stimulate a wider discussion about the preconditions for a genuine peace process also after UN Security Council Resolution 1701. Already supported by distinguished civil society leaders, we hereby encourage like-minded individuals and organizations to sign it. See how after the Open Letter. Uniting for Peace The history of this conflict makes it abundantly clear that violence on either side stands no chance of alleviating the suffering on all sides. If continuing, it will have devastating consequences for global security. A comprehensive, all-inclusive process built on dialogue, civilian initiatives and modern conflict-resolution is the only road to peace and justice. While there are sincere efforts by some governments to end the carnage on both sides...