Book Review: Children of the Stone by Sandy Tolan

Journalism professor Sandy TolanThis is another in a series of reviews of new books on Middle Eastern affairs. We asked Dr. Gail Weigl, an APN volunteer and a professor of art history, to review Sandy Tolan's new book about young Palestinian using the power of music to transform their lives under occupation.

 

APN's Ori Nir interviews Sandy Tolan.

 

Sandy Tolan, Children of the Stone: The Power of Music in a Hard Land (New York, 2015). 438 pages. $28.00.

Sandy Tolan’s Children of the Stone: The Power of Music in a Hard Land reads like fiction, but is a meticulously documented work of non-fiction, as the author makes clear in his introduction to the extensive source notes.  While the book remains focused throughout on the main protagonist, Ramzi Aburedwan, his musical training and successful effort to bring the healing power of music to the Palestinian communities of the Israeli Occupied Territories, equal – if not more attention – is devoted to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, from the founding of Israel to the present.  The stage for Ramzi’s story is never-ending physical and emotional violence perpetrated against the Palestinian people by the Israeli government and IDF. That history is interconnected with the more or less extensive stories of many Palestinians, Europeans and Americans devoted to music as the means to assuage Palestinian suffering and restore Palestinian honor and identity.

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July 06, 2015 - The growing Sunni Islamist threat

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This week, Alpher discusses the strategic significance for Israel of last week’s sweeping Islamist attacks on Egyptian army installations in Sinai, near the border with Israel; the regional implications, shared by Israel with some of its neighbors and with Europe, Russia and the United States; defines Israel’s dilemma in strategic terms, and what the ramifications are; how West Bank-based Hamas and lone-wolf terrorism affect Israel’s relations with Palestinian Authority leader Mahmoud Abbas; and what this portends for the prospect of an Israeli-Palestinian peace process.

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News Nosh 07.07.15

APN's daily news review from Israel
Tuesday July 7, 2015


Quote of the day:
"...a historic opportunity has been created, which the Jews will miss if they don't act so that Arab Israelis feel that this country is their home..."
--Yedioth commentator Yaron London calls on Jewish Israelis to allow Arab Israelis to do a list of things that Jewish Israelis are allowed.**

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The Oren Outrage: A round-up

Why is Michael Oren, the former Israeli ambassador to Washington, launching his vicious attack against President Obama now?

Oren says he asked his publisher to go ahead and publish his new book “Ally” in order to influence the debate in the US over the deal that Washington and its international allies are negotiating with Iran. Some, including Jeffrey Goldberg of Atlantic, buy Oren’s explanation.

I don’t. Had Oren sought to weigh in on the Iran debate, he could have done so without an ugly ad-hominem attack on President Obama, without the outrageous attacks on Obama’s aides (particularly the senior Jewish aides), against American Jewish journalists and against the American Jewish community at large, as he did in his book and in his Wall Street Journal, Foreign Policy and Los Angeles Times articles.

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Diplomacy Produces Good Iran Deal

 

 

APN on the Iran Deal

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The Obama Administration on the Iran Deal

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Experts Talk to APN about Iran Deal

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Recommended Reading on the Deal

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Other resources on Iran Diplomacy

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TAKE ACTION to Support the Iran Deal – 6 Things You Can Do to Make a Difference

APN Press Release 9/10: APN Welcomes Senate Vote on Iran Deal

APN Press Release 9/10: APN Urges Congressional Opponents of Iran Deal to Stop Game-Playing

APN Board member Mark Silverberg in The Cleveland Jewish News 8/27: Why I support the proposed Iran nuclear deal

APN Board member Robert O. Freedman in The Baltimore Sun 8/5: The next 15 years for the U.S. and Israel

APN's Lara Friedman in HuffPo 8/14: Cheap Claims of Anti-Semitism Can't Change Reality of Iran Deal Lobbying


More...

Adam Szubin, Acting Under Secretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence - Beyond The Vote: Implications for the Sanctions Regime on Iran - Keynote transcript from the conference "Beyond the Vote: Implications of the Iran Nuclear Agreement" - The Washington Institute for Near East Policy 9/16

Secretary of Energy Moniz - Letter to Jewish Leaders on the Iran Nuclear Deal 9/8

Secretary Kerry - Debunking Myths Around the Nuclear Agreement With Iran Medium.com 9/3

Secretary Kerry - Remarks on Nuclear Agreement With Iran - Remarks at the National Constitution Center, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 9/2


More...

APN interviews with foreign policy, national security, and arms control experts regarding the Iran deal – its specifics, its implications, and the way forward

Israeli Nuclear/Security Experts on the Iran Deal

Members of Congress in Support of the Iran Deal

Statements/letters issued by groups of expert validators

The best analysis, commentary, and opinion about the Iran deal

Full text of the deal


Updates and additional resources from fellow organizations

A compendium of resources relating to the long diplomatic effort that led up to the Iran deal

 

News Nosh 07.08.15

APN's daily news review from Israel
Wednesday July 8, 2015

Quote of the day:
“As long as the basic economic problems in Gaza remain, we will also have the potential for renewed military conflict, without connection to the extent of deterrence achieved in the last war.” 
**On the one year anniversary to Operation Protective Edge, Senior IDF officers call on Israel's government to ease the siege on Gaza.**

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Press Release: APN Condemns Palestinian Envoy's Anti-Semitic Statements

Americans for Peace Now (APN) strongly condemns vile anti-Semitic statements made by the Palestine Liberation Organization’s ambassador to Chile, in which he denied the existence of a Jewish people, accused the Zionist movement of striving to “dominate life in the entire planet,” and hailed the forged “Protocols of the Elders of Zion” as recommended reading.

APN calls on Mahmoud Abbas, the Chairman of the PLO and the President of the Palestinian Authority, to repudiate the statements of his ambassador to Santiago, Imad Nabil Jada’, to dismiss him, and to remind Palestinian officials of the terrible impact of hate-speech on the cause of peace.

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News Nosh 07.09.15

APN's daily news review from Israel
Thursday July 9, 2015
 
Number of the day:
23,300,000,000.
--The amount of dollars Israel will lose in exports if the European Union decides to boycott Israel, according to an expansive Israeli Finance Ministry study.

You Must Be Kidding: 
"How is it possible that for more than ten months, the security system and the political system, leave a man to his fate in enemy territory and prevents any public discussion or updates the family with details?"
--Meretz MK Ilan Gilon is shocked that it took Hamas chief Khaled Mashaal to speak for Israel to lift the gag order.**
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Iran Nuclear Deal: Resources

News Nosh 07.10.15

APN's daily news review from Israel
Friday July 10, 2015

You Must Be Kidding: 
“We don’t recognize the existence of a Jewish people. There is no such nation. This is not my personal analysis. A religion cannot be a nation.”
--Recently revealed remarks by Palestinian Ambassador to Chile Imad Nabil Jadaa made at a conference two months ago, which just cost him his job

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