I keep thinking, “it can’t get any worse.” Then it gets worse. And then it gets even worse. And then it gets even… If one focuses on the Hamas rockets exploding in Sderot, the return to targeted assasinations by the Israelis, the Fatah-Hamas warfare,..then harboring any hope or even considering the possibility of progress can […]
Middle East peace process
A choice between the unlikely and the impossible
Apparently this little way station of relatively calm conversation has helped to spark another blog, which will be part of John Sigler’s “For One Democratic/Secular State in Israel-Palestine.” John, who maintains a bibliography project focusing on the one-state solution, has been a welcome contributor here. But apparently he was frustrated by some limitations, indicating that […]
Near the Dead Sea, a canary in a coal mine
There was a very disturbing, very sad story in Maariv yesterday. It describes a situation that is indefensable and ought to be condemned in the strongest possible terms: (Translation courtesy of Israel News Today). SEPARATE BATHING; IDF BANS PALESTINIAN FROM DEAD SEA by Felix Frisch IDF soldiers in the Jordan Valley this week received an […]
Why advocating a one-state solution does not help the Palestinians
Uri Avnery, a longtime dove and gadfly of the Israeli establishment, is often quoted by people on the anti-Israel far left and Arab intellectuals. There are few Israeli Jews who have fought harder for the Palestinians or have taken a more uncompromising stand against Israel’s treatment of them. So it is worth reading a persuasive […]
Golda ignored an opportunity. Will Olmert?
The fact that the Egyptians offered a peace initiative to Israel in 1970-1971 and were rebuffed by Golda Meir and Moshe Dayan should be better-known. One reads and hears about this diplomatic blunder periodically in the Israeli media. But my impression is that the story hasn’t sunk into the consciousness of American Jews and other […]
Hope for Palestinian refugees…and Israel?
Who knows if the following “exclusive” from today’s Yediot Aharonot is true? Someone somewhere in the Saudi Arabian power structure wants it to be true. That alone is reason for a tiny bit of hope. Translation that follows is courtesy of Israel News Today: NEW INITIATIVE TO OFFER COMPENSATION TO REFUGEES WHO DO NOT RETURN […]
Palestinian poll: Is the glass half full? Or half empty?
Remember, the title of this blog is “Realistic Dove.” According to Reuters, Palestinians appear to be split down the middle about whether the unity government should accept the international community’s demands about recognizing Israel, adhering to prior agreements and renouncing violence. Polls of the Palestinian community are notoriously sensitive to events on the ground. But […]