This question is one posed to a representative of the ZOA (its mission is below) who's visiting April 1. Your question should combine a detail from the ZOA's mission and a specific piece from the history we've studied so far. Post your questions below by midnight Wednesday, 3/30.
"The ZOA is the only organization that documents and exposes Palestinian Arab violations of the Road Map plan. The ZOA leads the efforts on behalf of American victims of Palestinian Arab terrorism. The ZOA's campaigns have repeatedly led to the defeat of hostile critics of Israel who were nominated for important government positions.
The ZOA has played a key role in Congress regarding victims of terrorism, keeping Jerusalem unified under Israeli sovereignty, fighting Hamas and Fatah, and working on the imposition of sanctions on Syria and Saudi Arabia."
For more info, please click here.
Is it possible that in their mission statement they are generalizing a little bit too much about the Palestinians? It kind of makes it sound like the majority of the people are bad, but then later specifies about "fighting Hamas and Fatah."
ReplyDeleteI believe in class we have spoken about how generalizing is not good, in historical context, so why do they do it here in the very opening of their mission statement?
The ZOA seems to be trying to bring an accurate representation of the Israeli-Palestinian Arab conflict to light. Just bringing up the "violations" the Palestinian Arab doesn't seem like the best way to accomplish their goals though. if there goals are, as stated earlier, to give an accurate representation, then they should be reporting the violations and problems with both the Israelis and the Palestinian Arabs. If the ZOA says that Israel is violation free and that’s why they don't report them, they are full of BS. We learned about the subjectivity of history and how memories of historical events don’t necessarily portray an accurate representation of the event that actually took place. One of the reasons history is subjective is because people have tunnel vision and selective attention(they choose what they pay attention to), it seems like the ZOA is doing just this; they are focusing on the negative aspects of the Palestinian Arabs, without calling to attention anything bad that the Israelis do. I understand that this is a Zionistic organization, but that doesn’t mean that they should believe Israel is amazing, and everything Israel does is correct. A true Zionist should have enough faith in Israel that they should be able to portray both sides of the story and allow ‘Israel’s amazingness’ to shine through.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Ben and Julia, but I also want to make a comment on the first sentence... ""The ZOA is the only organization that documents and exposes Palestinian Arab violations of the Road Map plan." really? is it really the ONLY organization? I feel that even the way the just started out makes them seem a little unreliable. My question is why would they start this way and then go on to assume and generalize even more, as stated in Ben and Julia's responses? This isn't a high school article that gets graded and seen by pretty much only the teacher, this is an article that is supposed to REPRESENT and STAND for Zionist! This makes them not only look bad, but it makes sort of the opposite point across, it seems to me that once someone reads this they'll ultimately dismiss it because it does seem to fair or to cover all the bases of both sides.
ReplyDeleteThat said, it also depends on who the reader is of course.
-eliana ely
No offense to the representative coming to our school, but it seems fitting to me he comes on April Fool’s Day (Yes, I did actually mean offense in my statement).
ReplyDeleteAs Eliana, Ben, and Julia pointed out, this summary generalizes too much without giving sufficient details on what they do or did, not only does this lead the reader not to trust them, but also makes them seem arrogant. The ZOA always refers to itself in third person, which not only makes them seem untrustworthy and arrogant, but also a little bit dumb.
Is this an accurate depiction of the ZOA; are they really the personification of the dumb jock in a ‘90s sitcom? It would seem strange based on the context Mr. Williams gives us before hand for this to be the case, but when reading the summary my question becomes, is this for real?
I was going also going to ask, like Eliana, how the ZOA could claim to be "the only organization that documents and exposes Palestinian Arab violations of the Road Map plan." There are defiantly other organizations with similar motives and goals which do the same thing. And there's no way the ZOA is not aware of this. to be certain, I searched online for other organizations which also expos Arab violations of the plan. I found many site which expos Israel's violations, and a few pro Israel(or Anti-Arab) site with articles exposing Arab violations. But I finished each article only to find citations to the ZOA which wrote the original articles. I'm still not saying the ZOA is the only group to do this, but it is the only one on the first few pages on google.
ReplyDeleteWith my original question answered by myself, here is my new question directed directly at the representative of the ZOA coming to speak to us: resolution 77 (XII) of the Assembly of Heads of State and Government of the Organization of African Unity argues that Zionism or the "racist regime in occupied Palestine" as they refer to it, is very similar to "the racist regimes in Zimbabwe and South Africa" in that they both repress "the dignity and integrity of the human being". How would you respond to this claim arguing that Zionism is a racist regime which represses human dignity and integrity?
-Ami the Great and powerful
What are ZOA’s goals in exposing the Palestinian Arab violations of the Road Map Plan? Furhtermore, what are ZOA’s goals in fighting Fatah? Pointing out Arab violations and opposing a relatively liberal Palestinian political party do not seem conducive to establishing peace in Israel. Fatah, for all of its flaws, is probably Israel’s most likely partner in any future peace deal. Why would ZOA want to fight a party that Israel is trying to achieve peace with?
ReplyDeleteDocumenting Arab violations of the Road Map Plan is vital in making the argument that Israel is not the main opposition to a peace deal. It seams, from the Palestinians actions and their inaction in refusing to come to direct talks with Israeli leaders, that the Palestinians are not ready for compromise, or for a solution Israel would agree to. Pointing out Palestinian violations is thus essential, but shouldn’t it be partnered with proposing solutions or sowing the seeds for future negotiations? What steps is ZOA taking to achieving peace in the Middle East? Are proposals for peace part of ZOA’s mission, or is ZOA primarily aimed at pointing out Palestinian Arab violations to the suggested peace plan and opposing anti-Israel groups and sentiment in the Arab and Western world?
Basically, what bothers me is that this "mission" sounds entirely defensive. Zionism's objective has been defined entirely in terms of its campaigns against Palestinians but not in terms of itself. It seems like a very base tactic for me-strengthening your side purely in terms of the faults of opposition. To me I feel as if this particular mission is essentially Zionism stooping down to puerile playground politics. But that's not how Zionism started. The significance of the Israeli flag which we discussed, Hatikvah, the First Zionist Congress and its intriguing objectives (one of the most interesting for me was the one to strengthen jewish feeling and conciousness) all suggest Zionism had a clear decisive objective and goal for itself, providing purpose and meaning to thousands of people. So what happened? Why and how have the missions radically changed so much-has a fruitful for-profit campaign been reduced to a war of attrition, a war which, more than anything, hints at Zionist insecurity today? Obviously, these types of questions are difficult to answer but in this case it's exceptionally bothersome given how huge a gap there is between initial, decisive goals specific to Zionism all the way to defining Zionism's objectives through the opposition! (sorry for grammatical errors-got annoyed cuz initial message got deleted-so frustrating!!)
ReplyDeleteWhy did Israel just stand by/ get involved with the terror that aquired in Sabra and Shatila? In the film Waltz with Bashir, Israel looks really bad because of this.
ReplyDelete-eliana ely
We belive that the land of Israel was given to us by our God. Most Arabs who are Muslim believe that that same land is theirs. This is where both groups disagree and fight each other. The big question is who deserves the land? Whos land is it?
ReplyDeleteIn the past, the State of Israel has made treaties with the surrounding countries, mainly peace for land. For example, giving the Sinai Desert to Egypt and the Gaza strip to the Palestinian's. Even though Israel has given pieces of land for peace, Arab countries still hate the State of Israel and go to war with them. Why doesn't Israel defend the State of Israel in another way, since giving away land is obviously not working?
ReplyDelete-Aaron Zuckerman
What do the citizens of Israel think about the situation? There are many different opinions, meaning there must be many groups that gradually formed based off of the different opinions. How do Israelies categorize themselves regarding the different beliefs of where Palestinians and Israelies should be right now?
ReplyDelete~Rose
I don't believe that Zionism is racist. However, Zionism is supposed to be about one's love for Israel and their support for the country. Whether a Zionist expresses this through making aliya or by raising money they are taking action. My question is, is Zionism changing from being pro Israel to anti palestinians?
ReplyDeleteIs Zionsim about one's love for Israel or one's hate for the Palestinian?
Hypothetically, if the State of Israel was to be found guilty of orchestrating the massacre in Beirut -- mandated testimony given by former high ranking government officials which would exonerate themselves from the war crimes -- how and to what extent would the ZOA change their agenda and approach
ReplyDelete~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Jonny Levi~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Do you (Mr. London) believe the goals and associated values of Zionism have shifted over time. To what degree can its beginning definition or original aims be considered a part of how it is understood today, especially given how far this specific mission statement deviates from more conventional understandings? By conventional, I mean-citing the significance of the land of Israel, the State of Israel, etc. (perhaps also Jewish nationhood)-which are all omitted from this mission statement.
ReplyDeletewhat does the ZOA do beyond standing as an antagonist towards non-zionists and non-sionist entities?
ReplyDeletethe mission statement makes no mention of judaism. in what capacity does the ZOA see israel as a jewish entity? and how does the ZOA feel about where it is?
Tani
When our school went on the mission to Israel i noticed that there were many stray animals wandering the streets that were starving and look like they were abused. This really disturbed me since i am a big animal lover and it looked like Israel wasnt doing anything about this problem. Does Israel have a humane society and do they have an animal shelter where they feed the animals and give them homes?
ReplyDeleteAnother concern i had about israel is when Gilad shalit was captured. why hasnt the state of Isreal done anything and sent the the Israeli force to rescue him. I remember that they sent in an army force for Antebe but now there not doing anything for him.