Statement from J-Street

Just got this in an email from a mailing list I'm on:

Julie --

Below please find J Street's statement on the recently announced direct talks between the Government of Israel and the Palestinian Authority.

Have a great weekend and Shabbat Shalom,

- Hadar

Hadar Susskind
V.P., Policy and Strategy
J Street
August 20, 2010


J Street Statement on Direct Talks
August 20, 2010

J Street welcomes today's announcement of direct talks between the Government of Israel and the Palestinian Authority, with the United States closely shepherding the process. We applaud President Obama's leadership and the work of Secretary Clinton and Senator Mitchell in bringing the parties to the table.

But bringing the parties together is only the starting line on a difficult road that will demand real political leadership and courage from the parties and from the United States and the international community. President Obama has said before that talks and process are not the goal - the goal is two states living side-by-side in peace and security, with defined borders and an end to the conflict. We urge President Obama and his team to continue to actively lead the way toward that destination.

J Street is pleased by the announcement of a one year timeline for talks and by the assurances given by U.S. officials that the United States will be actively engaged in the process, helping the parties close gaps and keep moving forward.

The United States and the broader international community - including the Quartet and the Arab League - will have to help the parties to overcome the many obstacles and challenges they will face. We hope that this will include taking an approach that is regional and comprehensive in nature, placing the Israeli-Palestinian conflict into a regional framework that attempts to end the Arab-Israeli conflict as a whole.

The window of opportunity for progress is brief and closing. This could well be the last opportunity to save the two-state solution. We believe that Israel's future as a Jewish, democratic home, not to mention vital American interests in the region, hang in the balance.
We urge the United States, Israel, the Palestinians, and the greater Arab world to approach these negotiations with a seriousness of purpose suited to the urgency of the moment. The stakes are high, and the status quo unsustainable.


----------J Street is the political home of the pro-Israel, pro-peace movement.
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1. I like this statement a lot. My favorite part is:

The United States and the broader international community - including the Quartet and the Arab League - will have to help the parties to overcome the many obstacles and challenges they will face. We hope that this will include taking an approach that is regional and comprehensive in nature, placing the Israeli-Palestinian conflict into a regional framework that attempts to end the Arab-Israeli conflict as a whole.

2. I'm off to continue enjoying my Grand Tour of America. There will be napping in the car. Have a nice day!

Just FYI

I'm in California this weekend, to greet friends from China, and then we're going to New York to take my "Chinese little brother" to his boarding school (upstate, for the New Yorkers in the house; WAY upstate, for you New Yorkers who believe the world ends at the fringes of New York City). Right now we're in LA, at a very nice hotel (Hilton ain't famous for nothin', y'all) in some sort of Chinatown. Tomorrow it's road trip time: up the 101 to Monterey Bay, stopping in Carmel, and then up to San Fran, to hit up downtown and do a bit of sightseeing. Tom's Dad is in-country for 10 days, but my extremely dear friend Zhongyuan (aka Sally) and I will be traveling together for about a month. We'll see how it goes and where we end up.

There will probably be more posts when we get to my parents' place next week, but I'm not going to make any promises.

Ideally, supercool times will be had by all and we won't run into any huge transportation snafus. Keep your fingers crossed, send us happy thoughts, pray for us, whatever you like.

Oh, and since I'm hitting up Googlism.com (random reasons, long story, don't ask): here's a few of my favorite portions of the current "Julie" page:

julie is taking your name in vain over on general

julie is???

julie is hesitant to set herself up for further heartbreak
julie is known for her warm
julie is originally from quebec
julie is currently the apegga representative on the faculty of science at the university of calgary
julie is no more
julie is irate at the pregnancy
julie is forced to give it up
julie is playing next
julie is identified

julie is far from being some crass yank

julie is an innovator who visualizes how software will actually function in the real world

Two unrelated things

First, if anyone wants to thank a UN Peacekeeper: click here and the Better World Campaign will hook you up. In related news, Bangladesh is sending a mostly-female UN police troop to Haiti. Not exactly a cheery article, but you can read more about the situation here.

This page lists a few online courses in computer graphics programming. Could be useful as a refresher. And wouldn't my life be easier if I had Internet access at home? ... also sillier, in all likelihood, as I cannot resist the Flash games.

UN Peacekeeping website

This thing is awesome. It's a website developed by the good folks at the Better World Campaign. Front page is a quick overview of UN peacekeeping missions around the world, clickable by continent.