What can Israel/US possibly Give the Palestinian Leadership to Stop the UN Move?
We are at one week and counting before the Palestinian leadership goes to the United Nations to upgrade their status at the UN to full member, in theory entitling rights under international law they currently lack. There has been able commentary by this and other blogs, along with thousands of inches of media print on … Read more
On the Attack on the Israeli Embassy in Cairo, Part II
My reaction to the attack on the Israeli embassy was pretty straight forward: the refusal of SCAF to protect the embassy was unforgivable and a poor attempt to deflect the council’s own shortcomings, but the anger that fueled the attack was certainly provoked in part by the murder of five Egyptian police by Israel – … Read more
On The Attack on the Israeli Embassy in Cairo
Last week, as the Israeli government was building a giant wall surrounding the Israeli embassy in Cairo, I opined that the wall should not be seen as a necessity because of anti-Semitism or a rejection of Israel, but rather as a reflection of the reality Israel has created for itself. Killing nine Turkish (and American) … Read more
Thoughts on the Palestinian Bid in September
There are many potential narratives already being conjured up for the Palestinian bid for recognition in September at the United Nations. The Palestinian leadership is going around the world asking for states to vote in favor of recognition with the rights that come with it. The Israelis are doing whatever they can to stop this … Read more
Palestinians and the UN in the New York Times
Today’s New York Times has an editorial opposing the UN vote concerning Palestinian statehood and encouraging a return to negotiations. The editorial argues that a UN vote would isolate Washington and Tel Aviv while alienating the Palestinians and, therefore, negotiations would be a more productive, less damaging way to move forward – even if that … Read more
Correcting Palestinian Myths, or Voldemort in Jerusalem
Daniel Levy has a post up on Foreign Policy that would be funny if it was not so depressing. Levy describes the American effort to pull some wool over the eyes of the rest of the Middle East Quartet (the EU, UN and Russia) concerning the Palestinian effort to win a UNGA resolution in … 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
Rebuttal of Yonaton Touval’s Haaretz Article
As any reader of this blog knows I like to spend my time reading lots of articles that I disagree with. I will not go into the reasons why. Every now and again I get it in my head that I should create a blog piece about an article and let people see the inaccuracies … Read more
Is Lieberman Palestine’s Greatest Ally?
Lieberman – the face of the progressive extreme right in Israel? Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman epitomizes the extremist, quasi-racist (and occasionally overtly racist) fringe of Israeli politics that envisions complete Israeli control over the entire West Bank and the completion of ‘Greater Israel.’ He has called for: Israeli Arabs to pledge allegiance not to … Read more
Did They Actually Say That? Aloud?
Jordan Valley as part of Greater Israel? A couple of quick Israel/Palestine stories caught my attention today as I did my daily news rundown. Both have to do with the collective attitude in Israel towards the occupied Palestinian territories – how many believe that the Jordan Valley is not occupied and how it is acceptable … Read more
