Stephen Law

My colleague Brian Klug has posted a couple of pieces on the Guardian comment is free section, which may be of interest (whether or not you agree with them). I paste one in here. The link to the other is here: For many Jews today, Israel is not a normal state - it is a cause or ideal. Not in My Name NOT IN MY NAME In the midst of the carnage in Gaza, it defies belief that my synagogue has asked me to march in solid support of Israel Brian Klug In any conflict between peoples, there is a time for balancing the books, for placing facts neatly in the debit and credit columns, for issuing measured statements about the rights and wrongs on both sides. But not in the midst of one-sided carnage. The only decent thing to feel at the present time is outrage. The only thing for decent people to do right now is to condemn, without reserve or qualification, the brutal campaign that the Israeli military is waging against the population of Gaza. Every if and but derogates from decency. Earlier this ...

As you may know I wrote this piece looking at non-violent solutions to the Israeli/Palestinian Conflict for my book Israel, Palestine and Terror. This guy is giving talks on the subject around the country in next week or two. This is just for your information. Of course, he is a Christian and the venues are all Christian but I am sure they let heathens in. PRESS RELEASE Pioneering Christian peace activist and organizer Gene Stoltzfus will be in Britain and Ireland from 16 January 2009, speaking about nonviolent intervention in situations of conflict and injustice. With the tragedy unfolding in Gaza, the trip could not be more timely. The visit is part of a larger tour. Gene Stoltzfus was the director of the Christian Peacemaker Teams (CPT) since its founding in 1988 until September 2004. CPT trains and places violence reduction teams in high conflict situations like Iraq, the West Bank, Colombia and various native or indigenous communities in the United States and Canada. In the Ameri...

Ted Honderich's highly provocative contribution to my collection Israel, Palestine and Terror can be found here . Honderich defends the Palestinians' right to use terrorist methods. My response is here .

Jerry Cohen's chapter from the new book is available on-line here . I think it's one of the strongest pieces in the book. My own contribution (three thousand words) is pasted in below. Terror in Palestine: A Non-Violent Alternative? Stephen Law In this volume, the philosophers Ted Honderich and Tomis Kapitan argue that Palestinians have a moral right to use terrorism. Honderich’s and Kapitan’s arguments differ. For example, Honderich’s is rooted in his Principle of Humanity, while Kapitan develops a justification within something like the framework of ‘just war theory’. Nevertheless, both arguments conclude that Palestinian terrorism has been justified in at least some instances. And both rest on a key premise: that the Palestinians have had available to them no viable alternative to the use of terrorism. Honderich writes: that the Palestinians' only means to a viable state has been and may still be terrorism is something about which I myself have no doubt. Evidently it is ...

Israel, Palestine and Terror is out at amazon.co.uk. Edited by me, it features contributions by many very eminent philosophers (and also myself). Noam Chomsky, Igor Primoratz, William McBride, Jerry Cohen and Ted Honderich, among others. Some very fiery and provocative papers among them. Tony Benn was kind enough to provide a flattering comment for the back cover. Back to the vanishing God shortly....