Obama and Netanyahu Battle Like Prophets

This week the world was treated to a spectacular event, a champions' competition of an ancient sport, practiced since Homo Sapiens uttered their first spoken words. Two of today's leading orators collided in a match of prose and rhetoric excellence. Obama and Netanyahu sharpened their pens, cleared their throats and battled!

Oratory is a subtle art. In Judeo-Christian tradition it is widely associated with the prophets Ezekiel, Amos and Joshua, and lest we forget Jesus. These men stood in turbulent times, faced their people and spoke with conviction, eloquence and a determination to change the wrongs of their society.

It would perhaps be interesting to note the similarity in the content of their speeches. All of the aforementioned prophets lectured on morality and religion. Standing at the city's gate, they reproached sinners for their religious hypocrisy and for using their temples as refuge while committing immoral acts against their fellow human beings. They contended that human solidarity and social justice are of greater importance than religious fervor.

"Away with the noise of your songs (of praise)! I will not listen to the music of your harps. But let justice roll on like a river, righteousness like a never-failing stream!"
Amos 5:23

Here we are in turbulent times once again, glued to our TV screens and listening to the new leaders of men, political leaders. Obama and Netanyahu disagree on many issues, however, the Israel-USA alliance stays strong because of the core values they share. The belief in certain unalienable rights that amongst them are life liberty and the pursuit of happiness is key to democracy. As the USA looks for Middle Eastern countries to adopt these values Israel still stands alone as the only democratic state in the region.

"Israel is not what is wrong with the Middle East, Israel is what is right about the middle east"
Benjamin Netanyahu

"Palestinians leaders will not achieve peace or prosperity if Hamas insists on a path of terror and rejection"
Barrack Obama

Netanyahu and Obama reproached the Palestinian authority for its reconciliation with the religiously violent Hamas organization. They both share the fear that religious fervor would undermine the advances towards democracy in the Middle East.

Many more eloquent speeches would undoubtedly be sounded on Palestinian statehood, but the prayer for democracy and peace in the Middle East will go unanswered until Arab leaders speak of human decency and generosity before prayer and martyrdom. Then the Palestinians and all of the Middle East might enjoy Justice and righteousness like a "never-failing stream".

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Economic Peace: A Tale of Two Cities

"It was the best of times, it was the worst of times; it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness; it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity; it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness; it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair; we had everything before us, we had nothing before us; we were all going directly to Heaven, we were all going the other way."

-A Tale of Two Cities, Charles Dickens

Yes, sometimes we look from those summits in Washington to the conflict in Israel and our eyes darken and it feels like the worst of times, like we are all going to hell, Arabs, Jews and all the rest. However there are places where we feel it is the best of times, an epoch of belief with  everything before us.  One such place is Rawabi.



Rawabi 3D illustration



Rawabi is a new city to be constructed by Palestinians for Palestinians outside of Ramallah. The new venture is one of hope, forward looking sentiments of a bright tomorrow. Colorful  3D animations already display the bustling city streets, green parks and historic view while the founders promise high education, ample business and employment opportunities. A pink vision for the future Palestine.



What do the Israeli's say about all this?  Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says he supports Rawabi's construction. Going back to 2008 Netanyahu said "We must weave an economic peace alongside a political process, that means that we have to strengthen the moderate parts of the Palestinian economy by encouraging rapid growth in those area, growth that gives a stake for peace for the ordinary Palestinians."



Not very far away are our headquarters in a city named Modiin. Modiin had quite similar beginnings. It is a modern planned city with the highest environmental standards of urban planning and a design for future growth. The city rose from nothing in 1993 and today is home to approximately 80,000 people.



Modiin, Israel



As Jerusalem became more orthodox and hard-lined many of its Jewish moderate communities moved to Modiin. And I wonder whether Rawabi would be an escape for the moderate Palestinian, an oasis of economic peace in the midst of political turmoil.





Moderation is profoundly simpler when the fundamental elements of life such as education, employment and community are provided for. Luckily moderate people have a tendency to build and innovate. So in Israel and in Palestine moderate people will continue to build cities where they can nurture their peaceful way of life and where they will feel at home.   

Abbas Meets George Clooney and the Survivors

Abbas and Barak - the rerun

Abbas Meets George Clooney and the Survivors

Israelis were glued to their screens yesterday. A secret meeting in Jordan between Ehud Barak, Israel's Minister of Defense and Mahmoud Abbas, Chairman of the Palestinian Authority was pushed to the sidelines. The new long range rockets acquired by Hamas couldn't even grab a headline. Israelis were far more interested in the final episode in this season of Survivors (the Israeli Version).

Some may criticize the final episode of being a costly ceremony devoid of real content and aimed simply at entertaining the masses. Others may point out the multitude of seasons and short lived fame of reality stars as proof of the mundane nature of these over-rated events. With all the REAL news out there why do Israelis vote with their remote for reality TV?

Perhaps it is that the Peace Process or Arab-Israeli Conflict also had too many seasons. Perhaps - like so many reality stars, however successful or unsuccessful they may be, politicians are destined to be forgotten in the dusty TV archives when the season ends. My opinion is that we watch TV, to deflect from our own survival in this conflict torn region, and that the ceremonious hand-shakes and hopeful speeches at the white house simply do not achieve this end anymore.

We tune in to see dramatic events not long drawn out processes that need years or decades to take root. At the Emmy awards, the pinnacle of TV events, George Clooney conveyed it perfectly:

"The truth is, when the disaster happens, everybody wants to help, everybody in this room wants to help, everybody at home wants to help. The hard part is seven months later, five years later, when we’re on to a new story. Honestly, we fail at that…that's the fact."

Reality TV plays on our need for immediate gratification, it promises a resolution and it delivers on-time, on-prime time…And Barak and Abbas? Well… Who wants to see another rerun?