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Do you believe it possible to love a country with all your heart although you hate its government’s actions?

Are you frustrated because the news media promote the notion that all Jewish Americans do support Israel’s government unconditionally, that we all believe the occupation and escalations in violence are necessary, that we do not care about the fate of the Palestinian people?

Do you wish that an alternative voice, your voice, was being heard, both here and in Israel? In the October 2008 issue of The Sun Magazine, Israeli author David Grossman says:

“For Jews in the United States, Israel is not just another country. It is a country that extends itself toward them…they have some expectations of Israel; they have some wishes. If they are silent, if they do not make their opinions heard here, Israel will believe that all Jewish Americans support Israel’s occupation of Palestine. If U.S. Jews…allow only the right-wingers in American Jewry to express their opinions, they actually support the deterioration of Israel….It is important that Jewish Americans who oppose the occupation communicate their point of view here, because we mainly here from the right-wingers, who are much more vocal and sure of themselves.”

This anthology is our opportunity to communicate our point of view, and to do so with beautiful prose, not ugly rhetoric, with stories of love, not hate. We are seeking creative nonfiction, personal essays, literary true stories that together provide a pro-peace Jewish-American perspective on Israel. The stories themselves can be as unique as each of our voices: from essays directly related to experiences in Israel or elsewhere with Israelis and Palestinians, to tales of peace work here in the U.S., or narratives about personal insight or transformation regarding the occupation and the Arab-Israeli conflict.

Although we welcome the widest variety of submissions, each must be pro-peace and/or in opposition to the Israeli occupation and oppression of the Palestinian people. It must be free of prejudice or hateful language. Our goal is to engage, inform, and provide a forum for Jewish-American voices on peace.

Please read the guidelines to the right and send submissions to: submit2wakenowdiscover@gmail.com