I have been waiting in vain for more than 25 years to hear a coherent answer from Israeli settlers and their supporters to the following questions: “If Israel keeps expanding settlements and closes the door on a two-state solution, how do you propose to prevent it from becoming either a bi-national state or South Africa […]
Israeli occupation
Settlers won’t let Palestinians “forget” the past
Conventional wisdom has it that the Palestinians should learn to accept the consequences of the catastrophe that befell them in 1947-1948. They should swallow their bitterness and find a way to move on and stop trying to reclaim property lost 60 years ago, just as other defeated peoples have moved on after war has ravaged […]
Cancel tax-exemptions for U.S. funders of settlements ASAP
U.S. tax-exempt charities are in league with the devil in the occupied territories. Coteret, an increasingly important blog by Didi Remez, tells us: Last Tuesday (December 1 2009) an investigative report in Haaretz revealed that Machanaim a US 501c3 tax exempt charity is funding the Task Force to Save the Nation and the Land (aka […]
Where are the “moderate” settlers?
The Israeli media are filled with dire warnings of escalating, violent resistance to the construction freeze proclaimed by Netanyahu. A recent, on-line headline in Haaretz announced: “Settlers Ready for More Clashes With Police.” Much of the buzz concerns a “Day of Rage” in two days, in which predictable passions will come to a head and […]
The gated country
I’ve just returned from Israel. The sense of gloom about the chances of resolving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is so widespread and predictable that even mentioning it –or noticing it– seems naive. It is hardly new. But lately something different and probably dangerous has also seeped into the air, a kind of lethargic refusal to care […]
Gilo construction part of larger settlement expansion plan
Netanyahu willfully engineered a confrontation with the U.S. over announced plans to build in the West Bank town of Gilo, according to Lara Friedman of Americans for Peace Now and Danny Seidemann of Ir Amin. They make a persuasive case that the plans were a deliberate provocation of the U.S., as Netanyahu had many other […]
One state advocates, how do you know two states aren’t possible?
How do you know? What makes you so sure? You say, “It is too late for a two state solution” or “Israel is already one state. It is an apartheid state, and the only way forward is to transform it into a just state.” Where do you get this absolute certainty? With all due respect, […]
An Arab American moderate argues against the 1-state solution
American Jews like me who argue against the one-state solution are constantly confronted by those who claim a moral high ground and cite the small but growing number of Palestinian intellectuals who have given up on two states. They spend much of their time showing why the two-state solution is no longer feasible while spending […]
Boycotters? Or thought police? A new war against the “two narratives”
Realistic Dove has never addressed the controversial BDS (Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions) movement. One reason is that I keep taking one step towards it and then three steps back. It is a broad movement, and some of what some of its supporters advocate has begun to make sense to me. But much too much of it […]
Are there passionate moderates watching Al Jazeera?
This past Thursday, I was on the Riz Kahn show on Al Jazeera English. along with Mitchell Barak, CEO of Keevoon, a polling firm. The more I do these media gigs, the more I understand the impossibility of commenting on the Middle East, American foreign policy and American Jews without offending someone. In this case, […]