Middle East

At mideastweb.org Arabs, Jews and others are working together to build a new Middle East based on coexistence and neighborly relations.

In their words,
"The Middle East is our home. We want to build a beautiful home, a safe and prosperous one for us and our children. However, without cooperation between peoples, there is no hope and no life for any of us... We need to overcome the effects of decades of conflict, separation and hate propaganda.
Be neutral - We must not be agents or spokesmen for one side or the other. MidEast Web is being built by people of all faiths from many countries. We are all united in common values of decency, non-violence and neighborly respect...
We will publicize different views, so long as they are honest, well presented, informed and presented in a non-inflammatory way."
I recommend their extensive bibilography of the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict, History of Palestine, Zionism and more.

Websites presenting History of Israel and Palestine

Nearly everything I could find seems biased, sometimes to the point of raving hateful misrepresentations. I am not linking to the worst, but I will link to sites that I don't personally agree with. I think it is better to sift through information and listen through the anger, than to turn our backs on these problems. If you know of websites that clearly and fairly discuss the Mideast without slandering the enemy, please let me know.

http://www.al-bushra.org Al-bushra comes from an Arab American Roman Catholic perspective. Their main focus is on human rights, and there is a wealth of information on the heritage, history, traditions, theology, and current events of the people in the Middle East; Palestinians, Lebanese, Iraqis, Syrians, Egyptians, Jordanians, etc.
cactus48.com a website by American Christians which presents a pro-Palestinian history. They distribute a booklet written by "Jews for Justice in the Middle East", a small organization of Jewish scholars.
At cactus48.com we believe the key to justice in the Middle East lies with brave Jewish members of both American and Israeli groups.
bridgesforpeace.com biased toward Israel, but contains a lot of history, with some good insights of the British Mandate of Palestine, which lasted from 1917-1948.
The History and Meaning of "Palestine" a ranting pro-Jewish website that gives a long history of the "Palestine" region.
http://leb.net biased toward Palestine, but contains a lot of history, including a detailed account of the USS Liberty bombing (a US surveillance ship bombed by Israel in 1967. Thirty-four Americans were killed and 171 wounded, and it is claimed the US covered for Israel pretending it was just a mistake)

Jewish Perspectives

http://www.jppi.org/ Jews for Peace in Palestine and Israel is a group of American Jews who believe that a just, comprehensive, and lasting peace in Palestine and Israel is attainable through negotiations based on international law and the implementation of United Nations resolutions.
Tikkun Magazine "te-kun: to mend, repair and transform the world. Tikkun has become the only publication in America that gives progressive Jews space to critique the Israeli Occupation of the West Bank and Gaza... Progressive—yet also spiritual, Jewish—yet also open to criticism of Israeli policies, intellectual—yet also in touch with the psychology of everyday life..."
Gush Shalom a major Israeli peace activist group,with over 600 members. Their website has a lot of info about the Israeli Gov't demolition of Palestinian homes to move in Israeli settlers.
Israeli Committee Against Home Demolitions a letters campaign to Israeli government officials to halt Israel's land expropriation and home demolitions, with sample letter and where to send it.
http://www.btselem.org B'TSELEM - The Israeli Center for Human Rights in the Occupied Territories was established in 1989 by a group of prominent academics, attorneys, journalists, and Knesset members. Mission: to educate the Israeli public and policymakers about human rights violations in the Occupied Territories; to combat the phenomenon of denial prevalent among the Israeli public.
Rabbis for Human Rights "RHR, a group of Israeli rabbis, was founded in 1988, in response to serious abuses of human rights by the Israeli military authorities in the suppression of the Intifada. RHR is involved in ecumenical dialogue and educational activities in addition to dealing with violations of human rights of West Bank Palestinians and Israeli Arabs.
Human rights abuses are not compatible with the age-old Jewish tradition of humaneness and moral responsibility"
http://www.jewsnotzionists.org Jews NOT Zionists- a bit confusing, written by rabbis.

Palestinian Perspectives

Definition of Peace by Jean Zaru, a Palestinian Quaker from Ramallah. I recently heard her speak these wise words at the Peace Covenant Church in Durham, North Carolina.
Sabeel, a Palestinian Liberation Theology Center in Jerusalem, providing an ecumenical grassroots liberation movement among Palestinian Christians. http://www.passia.org "The Palestinian Academic Society for the Study of International Affairs (PASSIA), founded in 1987 by Palestinian academics and intellectuals in Jerusalem. It is not affiliated with any government, political party or organization. PASSIA endeavors that its symposia and workshops, whether international or intra-Palestinian, be open, self-critical and conducted in a spirit of harmony and cooperation."
http://www.palestine-net.com/ Palestinian life and culture
http://www.hejleh.com/countries/palestine.html a private website called "The Country of Palestine", this site has a HUGE number of well organized links to other sites pertaining to Palestine.
America, We Feel Your Pain, Do You Feel Ours? This article answers in a touching way, why Palestinians have cause to be angry with USA.

Islamic Perspective

http://www.islamweb.net a place to learn about Islam.

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