The authors you’ve cited don’t actually research anything, possibly short of Dershowitz who looks up enough to plagiarise from. I’m not citing any far-left conspiracy theorists here. And also, this is from my own collection. I do know that a few people in the foundation have copies of some of these, as well as others that I don’t.

Thomeas Friedman, the pro-free market journalist who wrote from Beirut to Jerusalem is hardly to be considered a lefty pro-Palestine cause head. He’s a journalist of the establishment. And while I didn’t come away from his book subscribing to his interpretation of everything, I give him the credit of being an honest, well-researched journalist who has a fair amount of first-hand reporting over the years and does know his facts. David Hirst is a journalist who has been kicked out of many countries throughout the Middle East for his reporting. His book, the Gun and the Olive Branch was banned in many of them because of its clear analysis of their brutal regimes, treatment of factions within Palestinian political leadership as well as the Israeli occupation. Ilan Pappe is an Israeli professor of history, and Tom Segev is a journalist for Haaratz and writes from an Israeli vantage point. As for Robert Fisk, he’s heaped much critical writing on just about every government and political faction in the Middle East over several decades, and is, again, no close alley of any Palestinian faction as well as not being enjoyed by the Israeli establishment.

As for the crux of the matter, I think we’re likely to continue having a different point of view on this, and that’s fine. I don’t know much about VAT, but personally, I don’t find the foundation, or ISM (the Palestinian-led movement of internationals) parochial. But that’s fine. The thing about putting stuff out there is that people are going to read it and come up with a lot of different conclusions about it. It’s just part of the deal. I personally don’t think the statements you point out mean that the foundation necessarily rule out concentrating on the occupation. And I also look at what it does in light of the phrase The Rachel Corrie Foundation for Peace and Justice continues the work that Rachel Corrie began and hoped to accomplish…” Perhaps the wording does need some clarification. There’s always room for improvement.

Also note, that in the guiding principles it says pretty clearly, “We will continue the commitment to Rafah that she initiated and intended to maintain.” Under its statement about supporting sister city development, the focus is also quite clear: “The foundation works to strengthen people-to-people connections between the US and Palestine (and particularly Rafah in the Gaza Strip).” The sites rebuilding project also lays out fairly clearly where it sees its work: “This effort lends support to Palestinian families as they rebuild their homes during continuing occupation and siege. It connects the local Palestinian community, supportive Israelis, and people around the world in grassroots rebuilding efforts.”

The topics you cite have various other groups pointing them out. If you think they need more attention, form an organization that does it. Most likely you’ll hear from people saying you’re ignoring something else.

The foundation itself is not an old organization. Its “first peace works conference focused on Israel and Palestine. Its 2005 event was around bringing “Voices of a People’s History” to Olympia, which did have a more universal theme. It’s also brought to Olympia a film about the situation in Darfur. It’s very much an organization still finding its way. I don’t claim to have a a crystal ball to determine where the foundation is heading, or claim to speak for it, but it is populated by people who have connections to Rachel and the occupation, and it’s fairly logical that the current focus isn’t all that unexpected or out of line. I think the inclusion of Rachel’s name in the title makes it crystal clear for people very quickly where the focus is and should be, as the two Rabbis for Human Rights directors quoted in the post above have also said.

ttfn

With all due respect (and I sincerely don’t mean this in a derogatory way), this is a bit of an insult to my intelligence. This would be like a member of AIPAC saying they have absorbed several volumes of history on the topic and then listing Joan Peters, Daniel Piper, Joseph Farah, Charles Krauthammer, and Alan Dershowitz.

However, now to the crux of the matter:

[Quote]There are ample places out there detailing every bit of violence that anyone in Israel has suffered. It’s a fairly easy thing to find. And when we see these websites and publications going to great pains to show how Israelis have suffered, I’ve not seen too much public outcry for them to show a proportionate amount of attention to the Palestinian side of the issue, or at least have some parity.[Quote]

This is true, of course. I consider myself quite internet savvy and am hardly at a challenge to find site addressing the Israeli perspective of the conflict and emphathizing with the innocent Israeli victims of Arab terrorism. That is not the point. Of course, I wouldn’t expect organizations like VAT (Victims of Arab Terrorsim) or ISM to show parity on their sites. Those sites are parachoial and have specific agendas (right or wrong). However, the following is from Rachel Corrie Foundation’s site:

[Quote]The Rachel Corrie Foundation for Peace and Justice continues the work that Rachel Corrie began and hoped to accomplish, and carries out that work with her vision, spirit, and creative energy in mind. We conduct and support programs that foster connections between people, that build understanding, respect, and appreciation for differences, and that promote cooperation within and between local and global communities. The foundation encourages and supports grassroots efforts in pursuit of human rights and social, economic, and environmental justice, which we view as pre-requisites for world peace.[Quote]

The above indicates that the foundation is concerned with mutual understanding and respect for all, as well as being GLOBALLY concerned with human rights.

Also from the site:

[Quote]1)We believe that injustice must be challenged and that human rights and resistance to oppression “must be included in the way we define ourselves as a community.”
2)We believe that education for justice and peace is a basic skill that must be universally nurtured.
3)While supporting the advancement of human rights and social, economic, and environmental justice for all, we will emphasize efforts to alleviate the burden on women and children, who too often suffer the most.
4)We are committed to the principles and practice of non-violence and to their advancement as means of effecting change.
5)We view art, the written word, and other forms of creative expression as valuable tools for building understanding, respect and appreciation for differences and cooperation between peoples.
6)We value and seek creative, and even unconventional, approaches to problems.
7)We agree with Rachel that it is important to make commitments to people and places. We will continue the commitment to Rafah that she initiated and intended to maintain.[Quote]

Aside from the fact that, except for #7, the statement above do NOT indicate any parachoial agenda, here are some other concerns:

Regarding #2, what about the continued education of Hamas and Fatah toward the younger generation with the goal of hatred of not only Israel, but Jews?

Regarding #3, what about the cynical use of Hamas of women and children as shields (and there has been comprehensive documentation of this) and sending out children to fight battles, both of which are against International Law of War and Combat?

Regarding #4, what about the deliberate attempt to aim rockets at kindergartens, parks, hospitals, houses of worship, etc. from kindergartens, parks, hospitals, houses of worship, etc. as well as ramming bulldozers into people, sending suicide bombers to blow up women and children, etc. etc.? Furthermore, what about the “honor killings” of Palestinians by Palestinians of those who are suspected of callaborating with Israel or even of women who are suspected of cheating because they speak with a man other than their husband in public.

Regarding #5, what about the censorship that takes place in Gaza by the Palestinian authorities, while in Israel there are those who side with Israel’s avowed enemies serving in the Knesset?

To be sure, if the foundation was called “Rachel Corrie Foundation for Palestinian Rights”, then I wouldn’t even be batting an eyelash. However the title of the foundation and the stated goals of the organization (with the exception of statement #7) make one believe that this organization if concerned with human rights for all and evenhanded. This is VERY misleading.

I don’t think the people at the foundation have a snapshot view of it at all. Having taken the time to pore through several volumes of history on the topic, from Friedman, to Hirst, Fisk, Pappe and Segev, etc., I’ve absorbed the narrative from a few perspectives out there. Again, I haven’t made any statement and neither, to my knowledge has anyone with the foundation, that we should not be concerned with violence against civilians anywhere. There are ample places out there detailing every bit of violence that anyone in Israel has suffered. It’s a fairly easy thing to find. And when we see these websites and publications going to great pains to show how Israelis have suffered, I’ve not seen too much public outcry for them to show a proportionate amount of attention to the Palestinian side of the issue, or at least have some parity. No one is calling on Israel to renounce violence or recognize the right of an independent sovergn Palestinian state to exist. No calls for it to actually admit is has borders.

I think that in the main, Rabbis for Human Rights does a good job at walking its talk, and as you no doubt noticed above, in no way does Forman speak for the organization, which is made up of many people with different views. I think we essentially agree that the issue is hardly black and white, but we may have different ideas on where the grey actually is.

I’m sorry, but by the above statement, one can see that the Corrie Foundation and their supporters have a snapshot understanding of the Middle East Conflict. Here are some facts that also need to be considered if one wants to view the conflict in FULL perspective and, hence, TRULY be concerned with human rights for all:

1)that in November 1947, Israel accepted the UN Partition Plan which would have created a Palestinian Arab state alongside the State of Israel that following the British withdrawal, Israel was invaded in 1948 by its surrounding Arab neighbors with the support of the Palestinian Arab leadership, and that the invading nations, primarily Egypt, Syria, and Jordan, promised–even boasted–that they would commit a genocide of all Jewish inhabitants of Palestine.

2)that the Palestinians refugee problem created by this war, therefore, Rachel Corrie may not have known that in the aftermath of this war, many Arab Muslim countries across North Africa and Arabia forcibly expelled entire Jewish populations from their ancestral homes, and these refugees were offered sanctuary by only one country: Israel, and that in fact, these refugees and their descendants now account for over half the population of Israel.

3)that after the Six-Day War in June 1967, which was provoked by Egypt closing the Straits of Tiran to Israeli shipping, expelling the UN peacekeeping observers from the Sinai, and by both Egypt and Syria massing troops aggressively on Israel’s borders, Israel offered to immediately return the territories it captured in exchange for peace and diplomatic recognition.

4)that even before the Six-Day War, when Israel did not occupy any of the Gaza Strip or the West Bank, Israel was subjected to terrorist attacks against its civilians by Palestinians that Israel has made repeated overtures for peace, and that these have been repeatedly rejected by the Palestinian leadership, whose stated goals, even today, is the genocidal massacre of Jewish Israelis.

To be sure, being concerned with innocent Palestians suffering from this conflict is a valid concern (as being concerned with innocent Israelis suffereing from this conflict should be), but this conflict is not as black and white as the Corrie Foundation makes it out to be (and, with all due respect, you in your above statement make it out to be).