Palestinian Statehood: What’s Happening?Golda  Och  Academy  -­  Volume  II  -­  Issue  I  -­  November  2011

By Aylon Berger ‘18 and Aryeh Lande ‘18 Frustrated with the lack of progress in obtaining a state, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Ab-bas decided to go directly to the UN (United Nations) for a Palestinian State. Instead of negotiating directly with Israel, who is very open to direct negotiations. He hoped this would put additional diplomatic pressure on Israel. Historically the UN has been anti-Israel and a vast majority of the UN human rights council sanctions in the past have condemned Israel. In order for Palestine to become admitted to the  UN   as   a   full-­fledged   state,  Abbas  will   need   nine  out  of  the  fifteen  members  of  the  UN  Security  Council  (UNSC) to vote in favor of his state. If he gets enough votes, the UNSC will then forward the application to the  UN  General  Assembly.  If  two-­thirds  of  the  193  na-tions vote yes for a Palestinian State, Palestine will be granted  full  state  status.  However,   the  five  permanent  members of UNSC have veto power and if one of the five  permanent  members  of   the  UNSC  vetoes   the  ap-plication for a Palestinian State, it will not pass the Se-curity Council. The U.S. has vowed to use their veto power. Abbas has chosen to go to the UN, working

around Israel, because he has high levels of support at the UN. He thinks a positive vote will give him greater lever-age in future negotiations. He doesn’t think current negotia-tions directly with Israel will lead anywhere. Also, Abbas would like to take action against Israel, condemning its soldiers and politicians for being ‘inhumane towards the Palestinians’. He will take legal action at the International Court of Justice, a  benefit  he  can  only  do  if  Palestine  is  a  state.  He  also  says that he will not go to the negotiating table unless Israel stops building and expanding homes in the West Bank and East Jerusalem which Israel refuses to do. He also has refused to recognize Israel’s right to exist as a Jewish  state.  The  Israeli  Government  says  peace  talks  should resume without preconditions. Netanyahu, the Prime Minister of Israel, says everything should be dis-cussed at the negotiating table, not before. Israel and America oppose Abbas’s bid for statehood. President Obama vows he will use the US veto if Abbas’ applications comes to the UNSC. Obama

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Inside This Issue:r

Och Life p. 2Och Op-Ed p. 3-5World p. 6-7Misc. p. 8Staff p. 8

Gilad Shalit’s ReturnBy Hannah Wernick ‘16   Gilad  Shalit  returned  home  to  Is-rael  on  Tuesday  October  18th,  after  five  years of being captive by Hamas. His return was for a trade of 1,027 Palestin-ian prisoners to be released. There are a lot of debates about how this will effect the peace relations between Palestinians and Israelis. Some people are worried that there will now be more attacks, oth-ers think that the Palestinians will now

leave Israel alone. No matter what hap-pens,  Gilad  Shalit  will  stay  home.  He  has  been going to doctors which are making sure he is healthy after his condition in the prison. Almost everyone is happy that   Gilad   is   home   safe   and   sound   and  they are still rejoicing in the streets. In my opinion, it was a good trade to bring one man who has been cap-tive for half a decade home. Although, I do see the risk of bringing 1,027 Pales-

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Continued on page 6

Och LifeInterview With a Freshman

Smaller Classes

Jordan Bialik ‘16 I sat down to ask our former member, Eli Es-rig, some questions about moving up to high school.

O2: Do you miss (och)2ygen?Esrig: I do miss the (och)2sygen. It was a pretty good setup, especially because I was the oldest member.

O2: Compare the (och)2sygen to the Flame.Esrig: In (och)2sygen, people are young and have short attention spans but will do what is needed once the ball starts rolling. The Flame has more members but is very organized. For example, every section of the newspaper has a leader. Another thing about the Flame is that there is not as much freedom as the (och)2sygen.

O2: Are you thinking of colleges yet?Esrig: Yes. If I can get into it, Harvard sounds pretty good, although I don’t think that will happen. I really just want a good writing program at college. Besides that, I haven’t thought much of it.

O2: What new and exciting things happen when you get to 9th grade?Esrig: Na’ale is awesome, it’s not just hype. During Na’ale, the new kids were integrated, we hiked a lot, we  had  a  splash  fight,  we  ate  pizza  and  we  definitely  got the Israeli experience. Another thing you get when you  first  enter  high  school  is  a  great  variety  of  clubs.  Some  of  my  favorite  clubs  are  the  film  clubs,  Shul  of  

Rock, Choir, the musical, the play and science club.O2: How is it having lunch a period later?Esrig: I have to say that I have mixed feelings on the later lunch. At the point of lunch, I am really hungry. On the better side, we have more classes before lunch. In middle school, you feel like you have your whole day ahead of you (after lunch), but in high school, you only have two more classes.

O2: What is your favorite thing exclusive to high school?Esrig:  That’s  a  difficult  question.  I  think  my  favorite  thing exclusive to high school would have to be be-ing back with the older grades. The students in those grades consist of great conversationalists as opposed to middle school “toads” (Esrig sincerely hopes that the middle school will not storm his locker and beat him up)

O2: What do you think someone in middle school should be most excited for in high school?Esrig: I think that someone in middle school should be most excited for the opportunity to choose his or her minyan. I personally like the meditation minyan. Also in high school, I think you are allowed to visit your old teacher’s classes even if they have a class, which most middle school students can attest to.

O2:  Do  you  have  any  final  statements?Esrig: To middle school students: hang in there be-cause one day you’ll be on top.

Arielle Solomon ‘16 We are very privileged to attend a school with small classes compared to public school. Some grades have larger classes than others, but they are all a pretty good size. The eighth grade this year has about 13-15 students in each class. I love the small classes for a couple of reasons. Classes are more tracked when they have fewer kids in them because there is a smaller range of abilities. If we are learning a challenging topic we can all ask our questions in the limited time frame we have. Students don’t become frustrated when they have something to say because they are called on more often. When we are hav-

ing discussions everyone can voice their opinions and we can debate them. It’s harder to have a good discussion or debate with a lot of students. Classes feel much closer and more welcoming when there are fewer students. Studies have shown that smaller classes improve learning. I cannot imagine having a class with 25-30 classmates which is the norm at many public schools. My grade had three sections in previous years with about 20 kids in each class, now we have four sections and our classes are smaller which I like a lot better. 20 students in a class is not a lot but 13-15 students in a class makes a big difference for me. Smaller classes  are  just  another  benefit  of  Golda  Och  Academy.

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Och Op-Ed Amazon’s Kindle Fire

By Noah Brown ‘18 On November 15th Amazon released its $199 Kindle Fire tablet. With a lower price tag to rival that of the base model iPad ($499), Amazon hopes to lure in Christmas shoppers. Its ability to read ebooks, surf the web, stream movies and television shows for less that half of the price of an iPad is a huge selling point. The iPad has iTunes with millions of songs, television shows, mov-ies, books and the Kin-dle Fire has well, basi-cally the same thing. The iPad does have half a million apps and an optional 64GB ($699 for this model) of storage and with   the   fire,   you   get   unlimited   storage   in  Amazon’s  Cloud  which  stores  data  on  Amazon’s  own  servers.  To  compare these competing tablets I have made a table,

which can be seen below, to compare them more eas-ily. Some people are wondering weather the death of Steve Jobs will affect sales of the Fire. Steve Jobs

was the CEO and face of Apple, which sells the iPad. As you can see, both tablets have their perks. If you want to buy one of these tab-lets, it all boils down to specs. If you want to read, watch a movie or watch endless shows from CBS on a budget, there is the Kindle Fire. If you want to smash birds into green pigs,

update your Facebook or watch the latest music video with powerful processing speeds, I think the iPad is more suited to you.

By Aylon Berger ‘18   The  definition  of  a  human  rights  violation  is  the  deprivation of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Bullying deprives victims of happiness and sometimes it even results in their losing sense of liberty. Recently victims have gone as far as taking their own life. Bul-lying  is  not  simple  teasing  rather  it  violates  a  person’s  spirit and soul. Recent examples include, a 14 year old boy named Jamey Rodemeyer who committed suicide be-cause he was teased for being gay. Some of his class-mates even said they were glad he was dead after the suicide. Rutgers University student Tyler Clementi jumped off the George Washington Bridge because his roommate invaded his privacy and teased him for being gay. Lastly, a student named Phoebe Prince was bullied for dating a “popular” boy, she too committed suicide.   Jamey’s   mom   Tracy   Rodemeyer   struggled  whether   to   continue   her   son’s   anti-­bullying  message.  She  states  “You  don’t  want  to  glorify  this  and  make  it  

where  the  kids  are  going  to  be  copycats”.  She  doesn’t  want kids to get the idea of suicide and do what her son did. Other people involved in trying to stop bullying have a different opinion. They say that there are ways people can limit bullying. For example if people are by-standers when someone is being bullied, they need to have the courage and stand up to the bully. In addition teachers should encourage kids to speak up when they see someone being bullied. In my opinion if we stop be-ing by-standers when people are being bullied and take action to stop the bullying, the amount of bullying will lessen. Here in New Jersey the governor and state leg-islator have passed a law called the Anti-Bullying Bill of Rights. Under this law all public schools must cre-ate stricter anti-bullying rules. Schools must also do a greater job at condemning bullies and cyber-bullies. According to the law every public school must have a specially trained anti-bullying specialist. Public school principals must also conduct a full investigation when

Bullying: Everyone’s Business

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Och Op-EdPalestinian State Debate by Arielle Solomon ‘16 and Josh Bochner ‘16

By Arielle Solomon ‘16 and Josh Bochner ‘16 Jews and Israelis are living in a time of uncer-tainty. We don’t know what will happen at the United Nations, pertaining to a Palestinian State with the pre-1967 borders. The proposed areas of a Palestinian State include Gaza, the West Bank, and East Jerusalem which includes the Old City and mutually agreed lands swaps. I see some major problems with this. How will Jews and Christens visit the old city? One sugges-tion is it could be shared by both countries but from a safety perspective it would not work out. Another major issue is more than 500,000 Israelis have settled beyond the pre-1967. The settlements in the West Bank are scattered so the Palestinians would not be able to take some sections of the West Bank and leave some to Israelis. If this two state solution goes into ac-tion  over  500,000  Israelis  would  have  to  find  another  place to live. Many people believe that the two state solu-tion will lead to peace between Israel and the Palestin-ians. I do not believe this. The problem is the terrorist groups. Will they be happy with a Palestine and an Israel? NO! They will not cease to create harm until Israel is terminated. One might ask, what the point of a Palestinian State is if it will not create peace. One opinion is that it will make Israel virtually all Jewish and give the Arabs their own state. Palestinians might feel like minorities in ‘a Jewish state’. Israel must be a Jewish state because it would not function as just a democratic state, the Palestinians would take over. They could move to the many other Muslim countries in the Middle East. Why does the Middle East need another Islamic country? It will only create more problems. Israel has a booming economy, universal health care, a good education system, and many other benefits.  Why  would  you  want  to  move  to  a  new  coun-try which doesn’t have a sound government and will start out with nothing? It scares Israelis that Muslims are growing at a much faster rate than them and they could attack Israel as a country if the two state solu-tion goes through.

Safety is a crucial part of this equation. I do not believe Israel can defend itself properly with the pre-1967 borders. With those borders, terrorists can send missiles to any city in Israel. The narrowest part of Israel if the pre-1967 borders go through would be 9 miles wide! There is no way Israel could defend that. The Palestinian Authority is called Fatah; it has an agreement with Hamas. I will remind you that Hamas is a terrorist group. How can we believe that peace will come from Fatah when they work with Hamas? It clearly states in Hamas’s charter that its objective is to cause the destruction of Israel through violence. President Mahmoud Abbas said in his speech that until there is a Palestine, Palestinians “will continue their popular peaceful resistance to the Israeli occupa-tion”. What peaceful resistance? Will their ‘peaceful’ resistance really stop if the two state solution goes through? I hope for peace with all my heart, but I do not believe the pre-1967 borders are the solution. Israel doesn’t want Gaza but Israel has settlements in East Jerusalem and the West Bank. This two state solution will only cause more problems, another corrupt Is-lamic country, and another breeding ground for terror-ist. We fought for this land and we rightfully deserve it. One day there might be a solution, it will not be perfect. This solution which is being discussed at the UN  has  too  many  flaws  and  will  not  solve  anything.

I believe there should be a Palestinian state. After all, they are a nation with no homeland, much as the Jews have been for thousands of years, up until 1948. They have just as much of a claim to Israel as we do after all. Muslims believe that Israel was prom-ised to them, just as we believe it was promised to us. And where should their state be? I believe that as this point in time, due to Israel’s foolishness, it SHOULD be in the West Bank. What was Israel’s foolishness? Well, Israel has been occupying several areas for decades, so long that they appear as parts of Israel on maps. However, they did not annex those places. This means that those

No, there shouldn’t be a Palestinian state.By Arielle Solomon

Yes, there should be a Palestinian state.By Josh Bochner

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Och Op-EdHeights aren’t actually part of Israel, just controlled by Israel. What I think the best step for everyone is to give the Palestinians the West Bank according to the borders of the wall Israel is currently building. This is the  best  first  step  to  solving  this  issue.  While  the  Pales-tinian Authority does not agree with a plan such as

this, as they want more land, I think they should agree to it, settle the land, and go from there. After all, we have been in this same situa-tion. Yes, we fought and won the land the Palestinians want  to  settle.  But  we  didn’t  fight  for  Israel!  Israel  was GIVEN to us. So, please reconsider, shouldn’t the Palestinians have a state?

What Really Grinds My Gears by Josh Bochner ‘16

Ugg-lies and the Like Do you know what grinds my gears? Uggs and similar shoes. I mean really, why would you ever spend hundreds of dol-lars on a pair of shoes, that get completely destroyed in the rain? And then you buy multiple pairs of shoes? What is so cool about them? If you want shoes like Uggs, at least get fakes. And let’s face it, they’re Ugg-ly. That’s what grinds my gears.

Dancing with the Stars is a show where celeb-rities team up with a professional dancer and compete against other pairs. Every week the partners must prepare a new dance. The competition episode airs on Monday and the results are announced on air on Tuesday. One couple gets eliminated per week. I like how the show mixes up the styles of dancing. For instance, one week the couples perform a dance that tells the celebrity’s story. This could include their troubles, how they became a star, etc. The week af-ter that, they perform a dance to their favorite song. There is also a classical music week, a Broadway week, and many more. Even if you do not like to dance, I think that you will still like the show. Funny “backstage” videos are played throughout the show and many interviews with the contestants take place. Each episode lasts for a duration of one hour, if you don’t have time to watch them live, you can record them and watch them later. Don’t expect to see Selena Gomez on the

show, the celebrities are mostly adults. One young ce-lebrity was recently on the show, Chelsea Kane, who stars as Bea in Fish Hooks on Disney Channel, won third place last season. This season, the celebrities are

mostly in their 30s, 40s, and 50s. I really like that the con-testants are all different ages, because some of them have to work harder since they are older. Some contestants also have to work harder because of physical disabilities. Not that many tweens and teens watch the show, I hope that after reading this article, you will watch an epi-

sode of Dancing with the Stars. Maybe it will become the show that everybody talks about! If you have any free time, watch Dancing with the Stars it is a great show.

Dancing With !e Stars Review by Dina Doctoro" ‘18

Get excited to vote for the mid-dle school student

council!

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World Newsby Theo Grayer ‘18 On September 17, many people that were angry about the state of the economy took to the streets pro-testing against what they called corporate greed. They are protesting against the way money is distributed in this country, saying that the top percent of the wealthi-est people in America control most of the econmy. The protesting started with no clear goals or an organization system. As the days progressed the protesting became more organized by setting up a camp in Zuccotti Park where many people sleep, eat, and live. The government has tried to stop this movement, but it is extremely hard because Zuccotti Park is a private park. So the police can’t throw protesters out. Protesting itself is not the only a nuisance, it costs a lot of money for the police to escort the protesters from place to place, and in some cases to arrest them. Occupy Wall Street did not start out as successful as it is  today.  On  the  first  day  there  

were only about 500 people protesting. This small number of people caused the police to barricade the metal bull in the business district. Two days later the number dropped to only 125 people at that time many people doubted that the protests would succeed, but by the following week hundreds of people came to protest. By day seven there had already been many arrests and on day eight the po-lice closed down Broadway for the protesters. A few days later some unions joined the protests and on day 15,700 were arrested on the Brooklyn Bridge. Today over 10,000 protesters are protesting, hoping for some change in the way money is distributed. Many people feel that the police have been too ag gressive with arresting people. One example is on September 24 when the police used pepper spray to make 80 violent arrests. Many people believed that the police used excessive force to make the arrests but the police said that if you resist arrest then they have the right to use force to arrest you. Another example of this happened on October 1st when 700 people were arrested

for  stopping  traffic  on  the  Brooklyn  Bridge.  The  people  

were charged with disorderly conduct and disturbing the peace and were all let of with tickets and warnings. Although the protesters say they were following police orders, the police have video evidence that they told the protesters that if they continued to walk they would be arrested. These are not the only two times people were arrested due to Occupy Wall Street, people are arrested every day, they are willing to do so for change. Occupy Wall Street is not only taking place in New York City, this movement has spread to almost every other state and even Washington D.C.. One of the major cities where this is happening is Los Angeles, which has an unemployment rate of 11.8% , this move-ment is under the name Occupy Los Angeles. Another

place where this is happening is Boston, where the unem-ployment rate is 6.8%. This movement, like Wall Street and Los Angeles is named Occupy Boston. There is also an Occu-py Denver, an Occupy Seattle and an Occupy San Francisco, ect. The protesting has even spread to New Jersey where there are protests in Trenton and Jersey City. Although all

the different protests are run by different people they all have the same general goal, it might not be for the same problems, but all they want is change..On September 17, many people that were angry about the state of the economy took to the streets protest-ing against what they called corporate greed. They are protesting against the way money is distributed in this country, saying that the top percent of the wealthiest people in America control most of the econmy. The protesting started with no clear goals or an organization system. As the days progressed the protesting became more organized by setting up a camp in Zuccotti Park where many people sleep, eat, and live. The government has tried to stop this movement, but it is extremely hard because Zuccotti Park is a private park. So the police can’t throw protesters out. Protesting itself is not the only a nuisance, it costs a lot of money for the police to

!e Occupation Of Wall Street

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escort the protesters from place to place, and in some cases to arrest them. Occupy Wall Street did not start out as success-ful  as  it  is  today.  On  the  first  day  there  were  only  about  

500 people protesting. This small number of people caused the police to barricade the metal bull in the business district. Two days later the number dropped to only 125 people at that time many people doubted that the protests would succeed, but by the following week hundreds of people came to protest. By day seven there had already been many arrests and on day eight the po lice closed down Broadway for the protesters. A few days later some unions joined the protests and on day 15,700 were arrested on the Brooklyn Bridge. Today over 10,000 protesters are protesting, hoping for some change in the way money is distributed. Many people feel that the police have been too aggressive with arresting people. One example is on September 24 when the police used pepper spray to make 80 violent arrests. Many people believed that the police used ex-cessive force to make the arrests but the police said that if you resist arrest then they have the right to use force to arrest you. Another example of this happened on October 1st when 700 people were arrested for stop-

ping  traffic  on  the  Brooklyn  Bridge.  The  people  were  

charged with disorderly conduct and disturbing the peace and were all let of with tickets and warnings. Al-though the protesters say they were following police orders, the police have video evidence that they told the protesters that if they continued to walk they would be arrested. These are not the only two times people were arrested due to Occupy Wall Street, people are arrested every day, they are willing to do so for change. Occupy Wall Street is not only taking place in New York City, this movement has spread to almost every other state and even Washington D.C.. One of the major cities where this is happening is Los Ange-les, which has an unemployment rate of 11.8% , this movement is under the name Occupy Los Angeles. An-other place where this is happening is Boston, where the unemployment rate is 6.8%. This movement, like Wall Street and Los Angeles is named Occupy Boston. There is also an Occupy Denver, an Occupy Seattle and an Occupy San Francisco, ect. The protesting has even spread to New Jersey where there are protests in Tren-ton and Jersey City. Although all the different protests are run by different people they all have the same gen-eral goal, it might not be for the same problems, but all they want is change..

World News

Palestinian Statehood: What’s Happening? (continued) Minister of Israel, says everything should be discussed at the negotiat-ing table, not before. Israel and America oppose Abbas’s bid for statehood. President Obama vows he will use the US veto if Abbas’ applications comes to the UNSC. Obama and the Israelis believe that the Palestinians should first   negotiate   a   peace   agreement  

with the Israelis and only then apply for statehood. Once an agreement has been made, Israel and America will recognize a Palestinian state. When looking back on Is-rael’s withdrawal from Gaza, Benjamin Netanyahu Is-rael’s PM said, “We uprooted thousands of people from their homes. We pulled children out of their schools and their kindergartens. We bulldozed synagogues. We even moved loved ones from their graves. And then, having

done all that, we gave the keys of Gaza to President Abbas... we didn't get peace.” In Gaza a terrorist group, Hamas, won elections, took over the Gaza  Strip   and  has  fired   thousands  

of rockets into Israeli cities. Abbas left his application with the UNSC that could take weeks or months to study the issue before vot-ing on it. In the meantime, the US

is working hard to get other UNSC members to vote against or abstain so the issue will leave the UNSC. Then the US will not have to use the veto and be iso-lated in its support for Israel. In a diplomatic victory for Israel, the US, the EU, the UN and Russia have all called for Abbas to return to the negotiating table with-out preconditions.

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Miscellaneous

Gilad Shalit’s Return (continued)tinian prisoners back; it brings a lot of questions. Of course, for Gilad and his family it does not matter how many prisoners were traded as long as he came home. The people of Israel are wondering what will now hap-pen. I think that Hamas now realizes that they can hold onto just one Israeli captive for many of their Palestin-ian prisoners and will take advantage of that. I also be-lieve that since many of these prisoners were terrorists,

there will be many more wars to come. In conclusion, Gilad is home, he is healthy and happy again. His family is overjoyed to have him home and thank Israel for their big decision to bring him back. As the prisoners are released, we have no idea what they will do next. All we can do is hope for peace and safety in Israel.

a bullying incident happens. I think the law which is considered the toughest bullying law in the country is a huge  step  in  the  fight  against  bullying. Many of the suicides caused by bullying could have  been  prevented.  We  have  to  be  a  part  of  the  fight  against bullying that goes for; schools, government,

and individuals. At Golda Och Academy, we must stop being by-standers when a bully is violating someone else’s human rights. It is our responsibility as American Citizens and Jews to intervene when our classmates are bullied. Bullying is everyone’s business.

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Palestinian Statehood: What’s Happening? (continued)and  the  Israelis  believe  that  the  Palestinians  should  first  negotiate a peace agreement with the Israelis and only then apply for statehood. Once an agreement has been made, Israel and America will recognize a Palestinian state. When looking back on Israel’s withdrawal from Gaza, Benjamin Netanyahu Israel’s PM said, “We up-rooted thousands of people from their homes. We pulled children out of their schools and their kindergartens. We bulldozed synagogues. We even moved loved ones from their graves. And then, having done all that, we gave the keys of Gaza to President Abbas... we didn't get peace.” In Gaza a terrorist group, Hamas, won elec-

tions,  took  over  the  Gaza  Strip  and  has  fired  thousands  of rockets into Israeli cities. Abbas left his application with the UNSC that could take weeks or months to study the issue before voting on it. In the meantime, the US is working hard to get other UNSC members to vote against or abstain so the issue will leave the UNSC. Then the US will not have to use the veto and be isolated in its support for Is-rael. In a diplomatic victory for Israel, the US, the EU, the UN and Russia have all called for Abbas to return to the negotiating table without preconditions.

Staff:Jordan BialikJosh BochnerNoah BrownDina DoctoroffTheo GrayerSophie Heimowitz

Aryeh LandeYonatan RekemKim RobinsArielle SolomonBen SoudryHannah WernickSam Zimerman