19 thoughts on “Miko Peled, IDF General’s Son, in Seattle – Tikun Olam תיקון עולם إصلاح العالم
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  1. @ Richard
    Do you remember the name of the Palestinian mayor ? I tried to google, but couldn’t find anything.
    I hope you’ll share your thoughts about Miko Peled and his ‘Beyond the Zionist Paradigm’ with us.

    Here’s short interview with him on the One State:
    http://mikopeled.com/2012/07/01/on-one-state/
    Miko Peled explains in his book how the death of his thirteen years old niece, Smadar, was the starting point to his active involvement in finding a viable solution, and the same was the case for her father, Rami Elhanan, who contrary to his wife, Nurit Peled-Elhanan, never was too involved in politics:
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oo7XXUzEqrI
    Nurit Peled-Elhanan’s book on Palestine in Israeli textbooks is worth a read (interviews and articles on the net)
    As Richard said: a truly extraordinary family. In fact I’ll vote for Nurit Peled-Elhanan and Hanan Ashrawi as co-presidents in a One State.

    1. Miko’s book is very good, not deep, but moving and I know about his sister’s work. I have tried to connect with Miko here in San Diego but he is very busy (apparently in Israel most of the summer) and we got one arrangement all mixed up (part his mix up and part mine.) I will keep trying as I have no other entree to the local community of activists here and feel very isolated and need to engage in positive work for the Palestinian cause.

    2. You mention that the death of Miko Peled’s thirteen year old niece was the starting point for his active involvement in finding a viable solution.

      How did his niece die?

      1. How come that your reading and googling talents are so selective, Bob ? You have her first name, Smadar, and her family name, the name of her famous mother, Nurit Peled-Elhanan, and I even posted an interview with her father, Rami Elhanan.Why don’t you look at that before asking questions ?

        1. Odd that you include all those details but don’t mention how she died (in two posts on the subject).

          A simple response would have been appreciated.

          Especially considering how many unreliable sources there are online and how much “common wisdom” from Google and elsewhere is not actually true.

          From looking around the web, it seems she was killed in a Hamas suicide bombing in Jerusalem.

          Is there some reason you avoided posting that information? If true, it seems worth mentioning.

          1. @ Bob
            Don’t think I’m a f…. idiot. You’re as transparent as water even if you’ve moved on to Hasbara 401 !

            “Odd that you mention all those details but don’t blahblah…”
            I posted an interview with her father. He mentions the Ben Yehudah Street bombing right in the beginning. If I didn’t want mention blahblahblah why did I mention her death in the first place ?

            “Especially considering how many unreliable sources there are online”
            Yeah, because if you google Nurit Peled-Elhanan, and gets her wikipedia page mentioning the killing of her daughter, you wouldn’t believe it, and wouldn’t cross-check it. Give me a break.
            Tell you what: I didn’t mention her killing in the first comment because I thought is was common knowledge that Nurit Peled-Elhanan lost her teenage daughter in a suicide bombing, but when you came around with another one of your ‘pretending-not-to-understand’-questions that even a five years old kid can look through I decided NOT to answer you. Is that answer enough ?

          2. @Deir Yassin I keep on learning here: It is neat to see Bob slip up manipulating information and discussion on this site. The persona is just too damn slick, too precise and measured but here now the innocent, manipulative question stands out and blows his cover. Good for you, Deir Yassin!

          3. I know how tempting it is to see Bob’s approach as an act. While I clearly share your disagreement with his views, I think much of his approach is genuine & not meant maliciously. I don’t necessarily feel that about other commenters here. So while I wouldn’t ask anyone to agree with his views, I think his motives are well-intentioned. That may be hard to accept & I’m not asking anyone to change their approach if they feel it is reasonable. I’m just adding my perspective.

          4. @ Davey
            Yeah, isn’t it amazing. The guy can’t google Smadar Peled-Elhanan, but when it comes to finding a ‘progressive synagogue’ in Seattle (cf. below), with the purpose of what ? Trying to contradict Richard, I guess, his googling-skills work perfectly. ‘slick’, that’s exactly the word I was looking for.

            I came across this, and wondered if you were attending:
            http://www.awda.org/convention10/
            The great Lebanese oud-player, composer and singer Marcel Khalife was there.
            If you watch the Al-Awda-video, you’ll hear Trio Joubran, three brothers from Nazareth. This piece of music “Masar” is describing the evolution of the Palestinian state of mind since ’48 (that’s at least my interpretation).

          5. Marcel came to Seattle two years ago & I heard his wonderful music. His manager sent me every one of his recordings!

            I wrote about the Al Awda sponsored concert in San Diego on that tour that was cancelled by a local venue for political reasons.

          6. I am a member of the local Al-AWDA organization and knew nothing about the Convention or Concert. I am very disappointed.

  2. I find it odd that Miko is coming to speak in a church in Seattle, and not some Jewish venue, like
    your progressive Reconstructionist congregation. If you are trying to get Israel off of Zionism, wouldn’t that
    be the logical audience to work on? Maybe Jews aren’t interested in what Miko has to say?

    I looked at the link Deir Yassin posted. Miko claims that since around half of the Jews in Israel come from Arab-speaking
    countries and that Jews and Palestinians share a certain cuisine then Israel can go to a “1-state-solution” and Israel will become a multi-cultural, multi-confessional democracy. I think most Israelis are looking around and seeing how other multi-cultural, multi-confessional states like Lebanon, Syria and Iraq are doing and this makes them leery of agreeing to such an experiment in Israel.
    I have a friend here in Israel who was born in Iraq and he told of the the permanent state of insecurity and sometimes outright fear the Jews lived with there before 1950. That is why, unlike what Miko seems to think, that Jews from the Arab countries and their offspring in Israel are the most “Right-wing” and skeptical of the possibility of peace with the Arab world.

    1. Mr. Settler finds it odd that an Israeli wasn’t invited to address a Jewish venue here in Seattle. Why don’t you write your right wing friends at SWU here & Seattle & suggest that they host Miko at a Jewish community venue. I’m sure Miko would be delighted to do it. Since he hasn’t received such an invitation Miko will just have to assume that the progressive Christian community is more interested in hearing his views than those who hold the keys to Jewish communal facilities here.

      There is no “progressive Reconstructionist congregation” in Seattle. In fact, there is no progressive synagogue in Seattle at all as there are in some Jewish communities in which I’ve lived.

      As for trusting your account of what Miko Peled believes, not on your life.

      You’re calling Syria & Iraq multi-cultural, multi-confessional states when both of them are or have been riven by civil war. That’s not what I call multi cultural. I call Switzerland or Norther Ireland or Canada multi-cultural states & they’re doing pretty well thank you. Yet you conveniently omitted them. Wonder why.

      As for which Israeli Jews are most skeptical of peace with the Arab world–singling out Mizrahim for that honor is silly. Russians are equally rejectionist if not more so. Not to mention that there are many Mizrahim who don’t embrace the party line you’re portraying.

  3. Bob has had, and continues to have, wide berth here and I have treated much of his commentary and questions with courtesy and do not propose to do otherwise now. However, the question about Miko’s niece does frankly seem so artificial and contrived as to be showboating (in the modest way in which Bob showboats.)

    1. I completely understand. There are times when I too am not sure whether he’s being genuine with such questions or whether there’s an ulterior motive. I try to give the benefit of the doubt though it’s sometimed tough to do so.

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