Nominate Orphaned Land to 2013 Nobel Peace Prize

Here is my petition to nominate the Israeli metal band Orphaned Land to the 2013 Nobel Peace Prize. Orphaned Land has managed to create a reality of coexistence in the region that has escaped politicians and peacemakers alike. This petition is just step one in the process of nominating this band. It’s goal is to generate support and buzz. If you haven’t already signed it, please do and share with your online community. Let’s make history.     

Conflict Resolution Commandos: A Response to the Flotilla.

* The following article was co-written with Andrea Bartoli and published in issue 4 of Unrest Magazine. It’s also published at the Huffington Post.

This month a new flotilla is scheduled to set sail to Gaza. As will be recalled, in May 2010 a violent confrontation at sea between Israeli naval forces and pro-Palestinian activists led to the death of nine people and many more injured; before a Turkish vessel aiming at breaking the Israeli blockade of Gaza was escorted to a port. As a consequence, relations between Israel and Turkey dramatically soured and Israel’s standing in the international community further eroded. Judging by the rhetoric of the parties involved today another collision seems imminent, with more flotillas forthcoming in the future.

As scholars of conflict resolution, we believe that such situations call for constructive adaptation on the part of those involved. To that end we propose the IDF take initiative and create the first ever Conflict Resolution Commando unit.

Valley of the Wolves: Turks Take A Page From Chuck Norris.

A moralistic Turkish revenge fantasy. In the 80′s movies like Rambo and Delta Force had American special forces kick Russian/Vietnamese/Arab ass. Now some Turks decided to take a page from Chuck Norris and go after the “demonic” Israelis. Apparently, this is one of the most expensive Turkish films ever made, with millions of tickets already bought. I hope Aristotle was correct when he suggested that watching dramas cause us to expel and release pent up emotions, but i am afraid the psychologist Albert Bandura was probably more correct when he showed that people learn though modeling. I’m sure the film will do wonders for Israeli-Turkish relation.