I waited to write this update until the final candidate lists for the Israeli elections were declared. That happened last week so finally we know who will actually be standing.
I am glad the Standing Together team have decided not to run their own list but are instead concentrating on getting the Israeli Palestinian population to vote. Historically, this community has not voted in large numbers due to the belief that their votes don’t help give them the rights they deserve. Hopefully, if they do turn out, they will finally get a bigger say in the running of the nation they are a part of, and where many serve in the police or military.
The next couple of months will be very consequential for both Palestine and Israel as both face elections. I am hoping that this will give new leadership to both, leaderships that can help forge a path to a peaceful future for both. However, I don’t expect those currently in office to give up on their entrenched power, using the conflict as the excuse to do nothing new.
As I wrote last month, the situation on the ground seems to be carrying on much as before.
In Gaza, the Israeli forces keep hold (or even extend what they hold) while continuing to carry out strikes on targets in the rest of Gaza, even if this is at a much-reduced level from last year. Hamas keep their stranglehold on the rest of Gaza. Both sides refuse to step back until the other does so completely, knowing full well they won’t.
In Lebanon, Israel still occupies much of Lebanon south of the Litani River, attacking what they claim are Hezbollah targets.
In the West Bank, settler terrorists continue to harass and attack Palestinians in what seems to be a concerted attempt to push them off their land. The IDF continues to protect these terrorists, even aid them. Meanwhile many Israeli human rights groups stand up as a Protective Presence against this. The volunteers who do this are attacked by the terrorists, army and police but still return. In a worrying development, these terrorists from the West Bank have attacked a Palestinian town inside Israel with the same tactics of seizing land and denying the legal owners access to it.
As Conference starts this week, I hope everyone has a great time. My health won’t let me travel down this year, but I will be watching online I hope you all enjoy it. As with last year, we are running a membership offer so if you join this week, you will get full membership rights to the end of 2027; 15+ months for the cost of 12. Use this link to the Join Us page on our website. You will also be able to attend our on-line AGM on November 9th, details will be up soon on our Future Events page, so save the date.
Finally, can I remind you about the delayed second event in our short series on religious extremism, Ruvi Ziegler on “Looking at Kahanism” on October 15th (details on the Future Events page). We held our first event which looked at Hamas on 7 September. Mohammed Amin’s presentation is already on the Past Events section of our website, and we hope that the discussion which followed the presentation will also be up online in the next few days.
Finally, as Jews celebrated the start of our New Year (5878) and look forward to the rest of the High Holidays, can I wish you all a peaceful New Year, a year where we hope Palestine and Israel will move towards living together in peace & security.
https://www.linkedin.com/in/dr-reuven-ruvi-ziegler-0b797414/