Israel Matzav

J Street co-founder: Israel's creation 'an act that was wrong'

Just when you thought that all the dung had hit the fan about J Street.....

Daniel Levy is an English-Israeli political scientist, policy advisor and diplomat. He is a Senior Fellow at both the New America Foundation and The Century Foundation, and directs Middle East projects for both organizations (respectively, the Middle East Initiative and the Prospects for Peace Initiative).

Levy was the Director of Policy and International Efforts at Heskem, the Israeli headquarters of the joint non-governmental Israeli-Palestinian Geneva Initiative. Levy led the working-level Israeli negotiating team for over two years, and was the lead Israeli drafter of the Geneva Accord.

Levy previously served as senior policy adviser to former Israeli Minister of Justice, Yossi Beilin, from March 2000 to March 2001. In this capacity, he was responsible for coordinating policy on various aspects of the ministerial portfolio, including issues related to peace negotiations, the Palestinian minority in Israel, civil and human rights, representing the minister on governmental committees.

During the Ehud Barak government, he worked in the Prime Minister's Office as special adviser and head of the Jerusalem Affairs unit under Minister Haim Ramon.

Levy was a member of the Israeli delegation to the Taba Summit with the Palestinians in January 2001, and of the negotiating team for the "Oslo 2" Agreement from May to September 1995, under Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin.

In 2003 Levy worked as an analyst for the International Crisis Group Middle East Program, during which time he authored reports, including "A Time To Lead – the International Community and the Middle East", "Middle East Endgame – How a Comprehensive Peace Settlement Would Look", "A Middle East Roadmap to Where?", and "Identity Crisis: Israel and its Arab Citizens" He also worked for three years as projects director for the Economic Cooperation Foundation, a Tel Aviv based policy ‘think-tank and do-tank’ whose mission is to promote regional peace and stability in the Middle East.

He served his compulsory army service as an NCO in the Liaison Office with the United Nations Forces based in the region and in the office of the Deputy Coordinator of Government Activities in the territories.

He is also the co-founder of J Street.

Last May, at al-Jazeera's Fifth forum, Levy was on a panel with Al-Quds Al-Arabi editor-in-chief Abdel Bari Atwan, NAF Strategic Program Director Steve Clemons, surreal Hamas apologist and one-stater Allister Sparks, and accused terrorist Basheer Nafi.

Omri Ceren has obtained a transcript of the panel. Here's what Levy said.

One can be a utilitarian two-stater, in other words think that the practical pragmatic way forward is two states. This is my understanding of the current Hamas position. One can be an ideological two-stater, someone who believes in exclusively the Palestinian self-determination and in Zionism; I don’t believe that it’s impossible to have a progressive Zionism. Or one can be a one-stater. But in either of those outcomes we’re going to live next door to each other or in a one state disposition. And that means wrapping one’s head around the humanity of both sides. I believe the way Jewish history was in 1948 excused – for me, it was good enough for me – an act that was wrong. I don’t expect Palestinians to think that. I have no reason – there’s no reason a Palestinian should think there was justice in the creation of Israel.

Read the whole thing.

'Pro-Israel, pro-peace'?

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 1:09 AM