SILWAN, East Jerusalem -- Backed by armed security men, the municipal inspectors race their jeeps through the narrow alleyways and up a hillside crowded with buildings. Some of the homes are well-faced with stone; the naked concrete of others gives off something of a...
Helpless in Gaza
JERUSALEM - Scores of Palestinian women and their children carefully sift through the desert sands. They are looking for hard nuggets. No gold rush here in the Gaza Strip all they are putting into their sacks are pebbles and pieces of hard rock. Even Israelis...
Israel Declares War on Peace NGOs
JERUSALEM - One year after the devastating attack on Hamas in Gaza a new wave of reports castigating Israel for war crimes has emerged. Now, Israel is fighting back with a report on the reports, picking on international NGOs such as Amnesty, Christian Aid, Oxfam,...
Israel Cool to New US Pressure
JERUSALEM - In the past, whenever there was even a semblance of pressure from Washington on Israel, nerves in Jerusalem went all a-jangle. Nine months ago, true to form, tensions rose appreciably when then-new U.S. President Barack Obama and then-new Israeli leader...
West Bank Route May Open, but Not to Peace
ROUTE 443, Occupied West Bank - Just beyond the main Israeli checkpoint, 10 kilometers short of Jerusalem, a white Nissan station wagon is abruptly edging to the side of the road. It comes to a halt on the shoulder. Four Orthodox Jews clamber out and gather around the...
‘Israeli Settlements Killing Two-State Solution’
JERUSALEM -- In the absence of any progress towards peace between Israelis and Palestinians, leaders of the Palestinian Authority (PA) are adopting a reasonable approach as a way of building up international pressure on Israel to get it back to the negotiating table....
Israel Declares War on Peace NGOs
JERUSALEM - One year after the devastating attack on Hamas in Gaza a new wave of reports castigating Israel for war crimes has emerged. Now, Israel is fighting back with a report on the reports, picking on international NGOs such as Amnesty, Christian Aid, Oxfam,...
Occupation Threatens Secularism in Israel
JERUSALEM - After Israeli settlers in the occupied West Bank torched a mosque and desecrated copies of the Koran in the Palestinian village of Yasuf last Friday morning, they ran into a wall of condemnation. The attackers were consensually branded as extremists, even...
Europe Steps In to Pressure Israel
JERUSALEM - Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his Palestinian counterpart Salam Fayyad have both been scrambling earnestly to win the backing of European leaders in advance of what could be a major EU policy shift that aims at creating new impetus for...
West Is East, When Israel Decides
JERUSALEM -- Along a wall not about to come down -- a hotel no longer a hotel, but an outpost. The three-story, 36-room Cliff Hotel used to be a favorite for Western pilgrims in search of the "authentic Holy Land flavor" because of its extensive gardens; it...


