Palestinians
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A diplomatic tool: the “freyer” factor
Monday, December 3rd, 2007
So just how much pressure can and should the U.S. apply to both Israelis and Palestinians after the Annapolis conference? The “P word” -pressure– still sends chills down the spines of too many mainstream American Jewish leaders, including those who know full well that, at times, Israeli Prime Ministers have desparately needed American pressure […]
What would you do if you were Israel’s Defense Minister?
Wednesday, November 28th, 2007There has been no shortage of commentary about the prospects –or lack therof–for successful negotiations after Annapolis. I have yet to read much that is not predictable. But Yediot Aharonot’s military correspondent, Alex Fishman, wrote an original piece today about the concrete challenges facing Israel’s security establishment. It is, of course, politically incorrect […]
An approach to the different “narratives”: Don’t let them prevent Arab-Jewish coalition-building
Wednesday, November 21st, 2007There is a remarkable essay by Hussein Ibish, a Palestinian American who is a Senior Fellow with the American Task Force On Palestine, on the ATFP’s web site.
Called “Sense, Nonsense and Strategy in the New Palestinian Political Landscape,” it allows us to eavesdrop on the internal Palestinian American conversation about what is to be done. […]
The best line ever written about Israeli settlements…
Sunday, November 18th, 2007Lords of the Land, by Idith Zertal and Akiva Eldar, is one of the most heartbreaking books I have ever read (or, more accurately, started to read, as I am half-way through). Written in 2005 and just released in translation by Nation Books, it tells us everything Diaspora and Israeli Jews must be forced […]
Israeli columnist: Cutting Gaza’s fuel supply is just “spin”
Monday, October 29th, 2007Americans for Peace Now’s latest “Middle East Peace Report” (link doesn’t work, so go to http://www.peacenow.org/mepr.asp?rid=&cid=4173) has some provocative critiques of the Israeli move to cut Gaza’s fuel supply, including lengthy excerpts from a column by Nahum Barnea in today’s Yedioth Ahoronot.
I keep waiting to read sensible justifications for this action from the […]
Mearsheimer, Walt and what didn’t really happen at Camp David
Friday, September 14th, 2007There is a sentence towards the end of Walt and Mearsheimer’s new book that undercuts some of what they have tried to accomplish with their critique of the “Israel Lobby.” Having rejected the binational, single-state solution as well as Israel’s permanent occupation, they assert: “The United States will have to put significant pressure on […]
Mearsheimer, Walt and the so-called “silent” Jewish doves
Thursday, September 6th, 2007I have read the Mearsheimer and Walt book. They have answered some–although not all– of my prayers, which were spelled out in my post on August 12th. The book is much more careful, more nuanced, more detailed and more convincing than their original paper, which was published in the Spring of 2006.
I […]
Give Israel’s Education Ministry credit: new text acknowledges Palestinian narrative
Sunday, July 22nd, 2007Yuli Tamir, Israel’s Education Minister, gets it. She and her staff have taken a tiny step towards a goal that has never been a priority for either Israel or the Palestinian Authority/PLO: acknowledging that there are two very different narratives at work here, two different ways of looking at the same set of events. […]
The Magnes Zionist on “moral” vs. “immoral” Zionism
Sunday, July 15th, 2007I have found a rare commodity: a kindred spirit in the blogosphere. “Jerry Haber” is the nom de plume of an Israeli professor whose provocative blog, “The Magnes Zionist,” wrestles bravely with the same issues I am trying to address. Both of us were recently plugged by Mobius in his indispensable “JewSchool.”
Judah Magnes, as […]
New Senate resolution: will “one-staters” sit on their hands?
Wednesday, July 11th, 2007There is a good chance that there is no hope. It may well be impossible to unravel the Gordian knot of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. But there will certainly be no hope unless the U.S. gets more actively engaged and takes a more balanced approach. That is a no-brainer, isn’t it?
Americans for Peace […]