Peace Camp Has Problems With the Pals.

I received this message from the Palestine/Israel Journal gang:

We planned a much anticipated conference to launch the issue, Impact of the Arab Spring on the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict, but unfortunately had to postpone it due to radicalization on the Palestinian side inspired by growing feelings of frustration caused by the impasse in the political process and the continuation of settlement activities, particularly in Jerusalem. An article in Haaretz by Co-Editor Hillel Schenker about the challenges to our activities from the Israeli right and certain Palestinians explains the challenges we are facing - Don't let them shut down discussion! [that is so patronizingly pathetic. After all, don't they have free choice or do they have to be just like the demoralized Jewish leftwingers?]

We are determined to continue our efforts to overcome all the obstacles to our activities and to help advance an end to the occupation and achieve a secure and viable future for both of our peoples. We will convene the postponed conference at a later date, as soon as possible.

And if you're interested, you can go to Why the PIJ Arab Spring Conference was Postponed and read more like this:

...On the evening of Dec. 18 someone called Ziad AbuZayyad and drew his attention to a campaign on the Facebook against the meeting accusing it of being part of normalization with the occupation. Ziad spent more than five hours on the Facebook sending messages and posts and responding to what was written or posted and trying to explain the nature and importance of the event.

On Dec. 19 we were called by the Legacy Hotel and informed by its Manager that he decided to cancel our reservation and they will not host the Conference. Later we received a fax from the Hotel confirming the decision of its administration. At the same time Ziad checked with the Hotel why they canceled the meeting and urged them to change their decision but they said that they were threatened by telephone calls and asked not to host the meeting. The owner said that he cares about his business and does not want any political involvement.

Ziad met with some of those who were campaigning against the meeting but others refused to come and meet him and continued inciting against the meeting. The message was clear that they are willing to continue their protest and will come to the Hotel to prevent the convening of the meeting...

...In this congestion, frustration and despair, extremism reigns and logic disappears.

We are unhappy with this situation and will keep going on the path that we believe in and have chosen for our selves. And we'll continue our efforts to resolve this problem which threatens all joint activities in Jerusalem by all of the civil society organizations. We will continue our efforts to speak with relevant Palestinian parties to change this situation,

BUT no one should ignore the suffering and frustration of the Palestinians in Jerusalem as a result of the Israeli policy and settlers...

Intimidation? Boycotting? Close-down?

All our fault?

Oh, my.

^