More Thoughts on the UN Bid
I was asked by a friend to provide some commentary on the Palestine UN bid for the Washington Monthly blog. Check out the site, but in the meantime, here is what I wrote: Despite the supposed significance of this week’s UNGA vote that led to the admittance of Palestine to the UN (observer status), there … Read more
The “What-The-Hell-Is-Going-On” Iranian Terror Plot
Ready for some real conspiracy theory juiciness? Israeli Prime Minster Netanyahu concluded the Shalit deal with Hamas now in order to clear the path for an attack on Iran that was now possible with the American-delivered bunker buster bombs. The plot on the Saudi ambassador primed the US public for increased hostility against Iran while opening Saudi Arabia up to cooperating with Israel on the attack on Iran.
Minor Thoughts on the Shalit Deal
Both of these moves signify minor, yet important shifts in Israeli policy, but does this mean anything? Does it show an Israeli government that is belatedly reacting to its own self-isolation? Or is there something bigger afoot?
1,000 Palestinian Prisoners Down, What’s Left?
The following factsheet gives an overview of Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails, even after the release of Shalit
Rebuttal against Daniel Ayalon’s New YouTube Video
I do not know if anyone else is as sick of this stupid hasbara (propaganda) videos by Israeli MK and Deputy Foreign Minister Daniel Ayalon as I am but I feel the need to retort. Not that this has some profound legitimate points. He picks and chooses convenient lies and exploits them to fit a … Read more
The Palestinian State that Wasn’t – Links
The Israeli-Palestinian Conflict and the Arab Awakening – Joel Beinin For Mahmoud ‘Abbas at least, the bid for Palestinian UN membership is based in large measure on Prime Minister Fayyad’s successful management of a highly constrained and territorially circumscribed neoliberal economic revival. This project has some popular support, especially in the northern West Bank, … Read more
Killing Off a Dead Olso, Con’t
Israeli National Security Adviser Ya’akov Amidror is leading a team charged with determining an appropriate response to the Palestinian UN bid in September and has joined Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman in considering an abrogation of the Oslo Accords that were signed in the 1993 and 1995. The Oslo Accords were meant to provide a basis for … Read more
Quote of the Day: Beating Mike Tyson in Chess
Adam Shatz has a great piece now up in the London Review of Books about the potential for the Arab Spring to finally reach Palestine. Shatz covers a lot in his piece, ranging from the superficiality of the Hamas-Fatah reconciliation to view that the Fatah ruled PA is little more than a pawn in the … Read more
Killing Off a Dead Oslo
Akiva Eldar recently wrote a piece in the Israeli daily Haaretz, in which Eldar pushes for the end of the Oslo Accords and all of the false hope that comes with them. The Oslo Accords were signed in 1993 (Oslo 2 was signed in 1995) and a permanent final status agreement was to be agreed upon … Read more
Pawlenty: Like Brad Pitt in Achilles
Tim Pawlenty, the republican governor of Minnesota, presented his views on the Middle East and his contempt (natural for a Presidential candidate) for the current policy for the region adopted by the White House. Unsurprisingly, Pawlenty gave an over-simplified version of events that highlighted the importance of Israel and the evils of Iran while blasting … Read more
