Forgive the brief diary.  No time today, but wanted to provide a  link to a pdf of the Palestinian draft resolution, obtained by Haaretz.  It's short and to the point.  Could it organize or stimulate more coordinated international pressure to push the peace process forward?  How should the US respond?  How will it?  Can it propel popular, grassroots activists?  

http://www.haaretz.com/hasite/images/iht _daily/D141009/palestiniandraft.pdf

A different kind of terrorist atrocity hit Tel Aviv Saturday night. In Israel's most liberal and gay-friendly city, and also by some measures its largest, a gunman dressed in black entered the basement room of a gay and lesbian center where a support group of young people, ages 14-21, was meeting with facilitators.  He pulled a pistol and opened fire.  Nir Katz, 26, one of the facilitators, and Liz Troubishi, 17, were murdered.  15 others were injured, 10 hospitalized, 2 in critical condition.  The gunman remains at large.  A variety of articles provide more information at www.haaretz.com, including condemnations by both Netanyahu and Livni, leaders of the two largest political parties, and background that reveals this as a radical escalation of anti-gay violence here.    

Most assume that the perpetrator acted with a religious motive.  And indeed, the ultra-orthodox have become more actively hateful in recent years.  What I find astonishing about this is that despite the widely interpreted biblical prohibition on male-male anal sex, Rabbinic Judaism actually contains a legal mechanism that would not just enable, but mandate acceptance of homosexuality.  According to a principle called pikuah nefesh, any commandment, excluding prohibitions on murder, idolatry, and adultery, is superseded if a human life is potentially at stake.  Given what we know about the relationship between the closet--self-imposed and as a function of overt social repression--and suicide and murder, it seems to me that this biblical prohibition, which does not even hold for all gays or for any lesbians, should be considered null and void.  

Such a principle of reverence for human life, pikuah nefesh should guide the ethos of a state that calls itself "Jewish."  Instead, it has been relegated to a parodic flexibility and inconsistency by those who claim to be the standard bearers of Torah Judaism.  Steven Spielberg's holo-kitch flick, Schindler's List, at least popularized the Talmudic maxim that one who saves a single life is like one who has saved a universe entire.  Following the concept that all humans are created in God's image found in the creations myths in Genesis, Rabbinic Judaism has always considered murder to be the gravest desecration of God's holy name.

Demonstrations have been announced.  I would love to see hate crimes legislation brought to the floor of the Knesset, if only to force the leaders of religious parties to take public responsibility for the incitement that has destroyed the young lives of Nir Katz and Liz Troubishi and so hideously and blasphemously desecrated the holy name of the God they claim to represent.

Update [2009-8-4 2:45:9 by Strummerson]: No, they haven't caught the murderer yet.  But this response from Yoel Marcus sums up much of what I tried to say here and places it effectively in both a historical and broader social context.

The bloodbath in a gay-lesbian club, shocking and upsetting though it was, is merely a part, or perhaps a result, of the general violence into which this country is descending. Hatred or intolerance for others' opinions leads to them dying by violence. There is a chilling similarity between what happened on Nahmani Street in Tel Aviv and what Yigal Amir did years ago.

...

For generations, Jews were considered a people that sanctified nonviolence in interhuman relations and lived by the the "law of the land." Our ancestors relied on God, but the modern-day Orthodox place less reliance on Him; they have fewer expectations of their prayers being answered. Instead - and it makes no difference whether we are talking about the Zionist ultra-Orthodox people from the illegal West Bank outposts or the non-Zionist ultra-Orthodox ones from the Mea She'arim outpost - they do exactly as they please. A time traveler from the past would ask himself: These are Jews? http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1105067.html

Although it's impossible to write anything on this subject without re-igniting the bonfire of primary cliches, any democrat concerned with foreign policy must be attentive to the relationship between the President and Secretary of State.  And it appears to me that something is amiss, particularly from the Oval Office side of things.  I, like many who supported Obama over Clinton for President, voiced enthusiastic support for Clinton's appointment as Secretary of State, despite recognizing that Obama would be losing a key player in the Senate on domestic issues such as health care reform.  

Some of us thought the trade-off worth it due to her proximity to the Northern Ireland process that resulted in the Good Friday agreement.  A historical breakthrough that has proven a stable and productive framework, it represents a signal post-war foreign policy triumphs.  Some thought this would be particularly helpful, together with her established credibility with both Israeli and Palestinian constituencies, in moving things along here (I write from Jerusalem at the moment).  When Obama added George Mitchell to the team, things looked even stronger.  Personally, I thought HRC's appointment a fabulous idea because of her signature "Women's Rights are Human Rights" moment in Beijing.  Clinton as Secretary of State is in an unprecedented position to address the situation of women and girls around the world, an end in itself but also crucial for processes of liberalization and democratization we should be supporting.  

Yet as the health care debate is heating up, the trade-off is looking bad.  For unless HRC is fulfilling a quiet coordinated role on foreign policy, Obama seems to have relegated one of his most talented players to a bench role.  As in the general election campaign, with an ability she had already demonstrated in the Senate, HRC has been a "loyal soldier" and impeccable "team player."  But maybe a little too much of one.

Here's a clip of my favorite Israeli songwriter (one of my favorites in general for that matter) Ehud Banai performing with two legendary Palestinian musicians, George Samaan and Salem Darwishe, on the shores of the Galilee.  The song is called Nitzotz Ahava or "Spark of Love."  It contains the lyric:

"What for you is a dream, for me is awakening

What for you is a dream, for me is awakening

What for me is peace, for you is war

What for me is peace, for you is war"

These are sung back and forth responsively between them.  But it's followed by:

"The place you are going to, there I will also reach.

The place you are going to, there I will also reach."

 Maybe these three should be invited to lead the negotiations...

So what would peace here sound like?  A lot like this.  And pretty damn good I think.  Have a good weekend.  

This is a short diary presenting a video that depicts the efforts of Peace Now to publicize the rate of continuing settlement activity and the occasionally violent resistance its activists face.  It focuses on Idan, a veteran of the IDF who was wounded in the line of duty, and who is physically abused by a security official of a settlement for filming in a public space.  Idan considers the work he does now as a patriotic imperative.

On my way into the center of Jerusalem this week, I witnessed the proverbial "writing on the wall."  An enigmatic call appeared in graffiti on the retaining wall of a park I pass through each morning.  Against the pale stone background someone had spray-painted in Hebrew: "If Obama will not come to the mountain; the mountain will come to Obama."  Beyond the worrying placement of Obama's name where that of Muhammed usually appears, I am not sure what this scrawl defacing the picturesque park intends.  But an editorial by Aluf Benn in this morning's Haaretz clarified to me that in order to move forward here, it is time for the President to come to the mountain, to the original "city on a hill."

A huge omission lies in the American demand that Israel freeze construction in the settlements. President Barack Obama and his aides failed to stir an internal Israeli debate on the settlements and did not pose a political or public challenge to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu regarding his insistence that "natural growth" be allowed beyond the Green Line.

A Haaretz-Dialog poll published last Friday shows that the public is divided over what is best: construction in the territories or friendship with Obama. Nonetheless, no political force in Israel stood up to Netanyahu and called on him to "say yes to Obama - freeze the settlements." Not Tzipi Livni and Kadima, who missed an opportunity to challenge the prime minister because of the rift with the United States. Not Yuli Tamir and the other Labor rebels, who could have depicted Defense Minister Ehud Barak as a collaborator with the settlers. Even Meretz, which is trying to rehabilitate itself, did not take up the flag of struggle that Obama put out there.

During deliberations in the Knesset a week ago, some opposition MKs attacked Netanyahu for ruining our ties with the United States. But none of them, not even the Arab MKs, called on him to accept Obama's demand.

The left's silence is amazing if we recall the previous crisis in relations with the United States, during the era of George H.W. Bush. At that time Laborites demanded that prime minister Yitzhak Shamir "say yes to [secretary of state James] Baker," and when he refused, they disbanded the unity government. Two years later the left supported America when it conditioned loan guarantees to Israel on freezing settlements. This time, nothing. It's as if the left is saying: Let Obama and Bibi fight it out - we're going to the beach. It's summertime.

What happened? First, Obama did not try to communicate with the Israeli public and convince them that freezing settlements will be an important and positive step to contribute to peace and a better future. Obama addressed the Arabs and Muslims, but not the Israelis. His neglect increased concerns among Israelis that they do not have a friend in the White House. http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1098 630.html

more...

To paraphrase Gerturde Stein: A Thug is a Thug is a Thug.

A report from Amnesty International identifies IDF and HAMAS actions as crimes.

In its first in-depth human rights report on the recent Israeli offensive in Gaza, Amnesty International accused both Israel and Hamas of committing war crimes during the fighting earlier this year. The group charged that the Israel Defense Forces killed hundreds of Palestinian civilians and destroyed thousands of Gaza Strip homes in attacks that amounted to war crimes, and denounced Hamas for firing rockets into civilian areas of southern Israel.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1097 267.html

HAMAS response?  Quite predictable:

Hamas said in response that the report was "imbalanced and unfair."

In the mean time, the blockade of Gaza continues, preventing its civilian population from picking up the pieces.  Dueling diaries on this site concerning a ship carrying activists who sought to defy the blockade and draw attention to the plight of Gaza demonstrated a reciprocal hyperbole and partisan blindness that mirrors the conflict itself.  One diary labeled Israel's interception of the ship as an abduction and a kidnapping, as well as an effort to maintain the covert nature of an ongoing and very public military operation by a sovereign state.  The protesters were never hidden from public view and were escorted to the Israeli port of Ashdod, not stuffed away in some dark cellar or secret prison.  The other diary dismissed the activists as simply showboating and discussions resulted in proliferating obfuscations, including aspersions of anti-Semitism and accusations of narcissism.  Since the protesters were seeking publicity, it must be for themselves and their concern for Gaza's plight couldn't possibly by sincere.  Never mind that the very concept of civil disobedience almost always involves drawing publicity to what the protesters perceive as injustice.  Boy, those marchers on Sela were real grandstanding showboaters.  How could they have actually cared about civil rights?  Gazans are, in this view of the situation in question, merely instruments for the self-aggrandizement of anti-Semites.

more below...

Obama better have some antacid handy for his breakfast this morning and some strategic brilliance in the wings.  Having made a settlement freeze central to his mediation of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, his "allies" have rebuffed him both practically and discursively.

Defense Minister Ehud Barak has authorized the building of 300 new homes in the West Bank, defying U.S. calls for a halt to settlement growth.

According to Army Radio said 60 of the 300 homes slated for the Talmon settlement in the West Bank have already been built and that Barak had approved plans to construct another 240 units there.  
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1095 031.html

And Barak is supposed to be the left flank of this coalition.