Help Me Find Pro-Peace Websites (of a Particular Sort)

by Charles Lenchner · 2009-02-28 06:41:00 -0500
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Request to my readers: Please help me find a particular kind of website or blog devoted to the israeli-Palestinian conflict. To help you help me, I'll start by describing some great sites that don't quite fit.

I like Realistic Dove, the Israel Policy Forum's new blog, and Daniel Levy's site at the New American Foundation. But all three present a particular pro-Israel, pro two state solution, Jew-centric approach. The kind of website I'm looking for doesn't represent a Jewish OR a Palestinian agenda, but both, alternating.

There are of course, very good pro-Palestinian websites. I read Electronic Intifada, American Task Force on Palestine, the Palestine Center/Jerusalem Fund, and the US Campaign to End the Occupation. Sadly, none of them allow comments. None of them really have blog posts, in the sense of articles that reference other sources and engage them in sustained, hyperlinked dialogue.

Then there are the Palestinian media sites. Some of the best ones are Ma'an and the Palestine Chronicle. That being said, most do not have comments, or if they do - English speakers aren't using them much. But what makes these sites less attractive (for my current purpose) is that they are Palestinian.

What I want is a site that has Israelis and Palestinians, Jews and Arabs, Middle Easterners and Americans and/or Europeans. It should have proponents of two states coexisting peacefully with one one staters. There will be a diversity of voices representing different constituencies, as opposed to one of them.

Bitterlemons and the Commong Ground News Service have great content, and a diverse group of writers. But they aren't community sites, there is no commenting, and the articles aren't blog posts. (I'm starting to think that sites determined to be 'serious' by having well known authors submit op-ed style articles simply don't understand what new media is actual for.)

Any recommendations out there? What sites fit the filter described above?

My theory is that most folks motivated to create a site devoted to addressing the Israeli-Palestinian conflict are either promoting an organization, a specific constituency, or a narrow viewpoint. Narrow not in the sense that I think it's wrong or limiting, but in the sense that the effort is designed to spread a particular orthodoxy.

I'm not entirely innocent. This site does have a bias. But the edges are soft. I feel comfortable promoting news and views with a wider range that what I've found elsewhere. Where is the English language site promoting the views of the Fatah leadership and the Israeli Labor Party at the same time? Where can I find the views of the PFLP and Hadash side by side?

If you have suggestions - post them below.

* Bonus question: what is the Palestinian New York Times, or Palestinian Ha'aretz?

Charles Lenchner
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