When "Palestine Resistance" Was All Jewish

Here is an archival document of the US Palestine Resistance Committee from 1947. The "resistance" then, of course, was that undertaken by the armed underground forces of the Irgun and the Lechi.

In September 1939, despite Hagana and Irgun attacks against the British Mandatory regime in Mandate Palestine following the publication of the White Paper policy statrement that, in effect, subverted the decision of the Leasgue of Nations to reconstitute the Jewish national home, a cease-fire was declared. This was due to the outbreak of World War II when both Jabotinsky and Ben-Gurion decided that the war in Europe deserved primary attention. Avraham Stern broke away in June 1940 to continue the war for liberation and with Menachem Begin's arrival, the Irgun launched its revolt in February 1944. For a short period between late October 1945 and July 1946, the Hagana joined the urban guerilla campaign and the United Hebrew Resistance was formed.

The document deals with the resignation of an activist who felt that the main Bergson group, the American League for a Free Palestine, should be devoting more energy and participation and support for the actual armed operations in the Palestine Mandate against the British occcupation.

Note, too, the name Y. Ben-Ami, Jeremy (of J Street) Ben-Ami's father as well as the many public figures who aligned themselves with active Jewish resistance in the fight for freedom:-

When "Palestine" was Jewish through and through.

^

This Is Just, Well, Terrible

Israeli universities cease researching Palestinian musicology

Next we'll be burning books, maybe?

Post-(Whatever) Tu B'Shvat

This came into my mail box:

Dear friends,

As part of the our Swords Into Ploughshares campaign, Jewish Voice for Peace has created a special Tu B' Shvat seder, designed as a political/cultural event (rather than the Kabbalistic or predominantly religious ritual usually used on this holiday). The seder will mark the launch of our Trees of Reconciliation project through which we will raise funds to plant 3,000 olive trees in the West Bank in 2008.

We have seders planned for the night of January 21st, 2008 in ten North American cities already, and are looking for more people who would like to host, particularly in the UK, Australia, Israel and Palestine. Your event could be large or small,in a rented hall or at your kitchen table with a few friends.

We've created a resource center complete with a backgounder on JVP's new take on the Tu B'Shvat tradition, a downloadable haggadah, leader's guide, shopping list, and even MP3 files of the songs so you can learn them if they're not familiar.

As we all know, talking about the issues of peace and justice in Palestine can be complicated and difficult, but hosting the event will be fun and easy. It could also be a way to bring interested people into the movement.

If you're interested in hosting, or know someone who might be, please contact us at trees@jvp.org. You can also go right to the resource center and register online.

Best,

Elliott Bat Tzedek(*) and Hannah Schwarzschild, JVP Philadelphia members and authors of JVP's new Trees of Reconciliation Tu B'Shvat Haggadah.

Gee, subverting the Jewish arbor day into support for something called "Palestine".

Some Jews are just so creative.

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(*) Bat Tzedek? Elliot's a girl? Or transgender? Or a homosexual? Really, isn;t this carrying things a bit too far?