Mark Rosenblum is an historian at Queens College where he is Director of the Michael Harrington Center and head of its Middle East Project. Professor Rosenblum is an expert on the Middle East, is the founder of Americans for Peace Now, and has combined academic research and policy analysis with involvement in track two diplomacy. In that capacity he has attended the numerous international peace conference with leaders of Israel, Arab Countries and the PLO.
On August 13, 2009 Professor Rosenblum visited Portland and spoke at a lunch meeting of the Jewish Federation Community Relations Council. He spoke on the recent history and current status of the peace process, and the political challenges going forward within both Israel and Palestine. After his remarks a question and answer session went for the better part of an hour.
This audio (part 1) is Professor Rosenblum’s remarks only, I hope to have part 2, the Q and A available soon.
It is worth noting that several important developments have occurred since August, including the formal release of the Goldstone report, the decision not to refer the Goldstone report, and increasing political tensions between Palestinian factions. In addition the rhetoric about a settlement freeze has been … unsettling? I hope to do a phone interview in the next few weeks with Professor Rosenblum on these recent developments.
This audio has not yet aired. As Shalom Portland has not yet been given it’s next air time, and this material is time sensitive … it is here now for you to download and listen to.
- KBOO
Comments
Welcome Surprise: Shalom Portland's 2nd broadcast
Dear KBOO Program Board, It was a welcome surprise this morning to find the 2nd broadcast of the non-regularly scheduled program Shalom Portland. As with the first program that featured a deep investigation into what the respected Egyptian journalist (based in the UK) Adel Darwish so comprehensively essayed in his seminal book titled Water Wars: Coming Conflicts In The Middle East (1993), today's 2nd program added a needed dimension that both mainstream and community journalists often feel is too hot to address within the ongoing saturation coverage of one of the smallest corners of one of the most troubled regions on earth. A quick online search will show that rare is the media forum that has cited the Israeli General Yehoshaphat Harkabi who joined Shalom Akhshav\Peace Now, the Israeli anti-war movement in 1978 and published his prescient paradigm shifting book titled in Hebrew in 1986 Hachraot Goraliot and translatted into English in 1988 titled Israel's Fateful Hour at least as rare as is the recent media citation of Darwish's more relevant than ever Water Wars. KBOO is to be commended for retrieving from the memory hole of the impolitic crucial subjects and perspectives, updated for today's shifting socio-economic and geo-political landscapes. Hope KBOO finds a regular spot on its schedule for Shalom Portland and that an open forum for journalists covering the muddle east from a wide spectrum of perspectives may be facilitated in perhaps special Town Hall programs broadcast live from local venues with community Q&A participation. KPFA has tried this in the Bay Area and these Town Hall broadcasts and recordings have proven useful fundraising tools for community radio as well as being a way to bring together into discussion ethnic sectors that rarely speak to each other (in civil society).Mitch RitterBeaverton, OR