Jerrold Kessel and Pierre Klochendler

Jerrold Kessel and Pierre Klochendler write for Inter Press Service.

No Unilateral Declaration of Palestinian State, Says Erekat

JERUSALEM – The Palestinian Authority has embarked on a new strategic drive to get renewed international recognition for the borders of the future Palestinian state. Last Thursday it gained backing for this approach from the Arab League. Going into a meeting with European representatives in Ramallah on the West Bank to explain the Palestinian strategy, … Continue reading “No Unilateral Declaration of Palestinian State, Says Erekat”

Demolitions Continue in East Jerusalem

OCCUPIED EAST JERUSALEM – "Make sure your father gets this," the municipal inspector tells a 10-year-old boy at the gate of the concrete house in an alleyway in the al-Bustan quarter of Silwan, a Palestinian neighborhood right under the shadow of the walled Old City. "This" is a court-approved demolition notice, "No. 59." It’s for … Continue reading “Demolitions Continue in East Jerusalem”

Mideast Peace Plan May Yet Survive New Twists

JERUSALEM — U.S. President Obama’s Middle East engagement policy reverses the unsuccessful policy of his predecessor, but the U.S. is again committing faux pas aplenty. Yet, for all the uncomplimentary ways in which the President’s strategy is now viewed by many in the region, perhaps all is not lost yet. The sorry state of the … Continue reading “Mideast Peace Plan May Yet Survive New Twists”

Netanyahu Unsure How to Contain Gaza Fallout

JERUSALEM – Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu finds himself embattled on several fronts as he tries – so far unsuccessfully – to ward off the enormous international pressure on Israel unleashed by the Goldstone report for its conduct of the war against Hamas in Gaza earlier this year. Israel’s failure to bury the report has … Continue reading “Netanyahu Unsure How to Contain Gaza Fallout”

Another Nobel Message for Peace

JERUSALEM – In the week of Nobel Prize announcements, the most intriguing comment from the Middle East came not, as one might have expected, as a straight reaction to the shock of U.S. President Barack Obama being awarded this year’s Peace Prize. It came from another Nobel winner – Israeli professor Ada Yonath, one of … Continue reading “Another Nobel Message for Peace”

Mideast ‘Peace Partners’ Finally Taking Off Their Gloves

JERUSALEM — Amazingly, just when all four parties — the U.S., its allies in the Arab world, the Palestinian Authority, and Israel — seemed to have hit rock bottom in terms of the prospects of moving the region away from conflict and towards peace, all of a sudden everything seems to be pointing in the … Continue reading “Mideast ‘Peace Partners’ Finally Taking Off Their Gloves”

Palestinian Voices of Gloom Get Louder

ABU DIS, Occupied West Bank – Three Israeli soldiers, automatic rifles slung across their shoulders, are questioning a group of Palestinian builders. The top floors being added to the concrete house that lies right alongside Israel’s security wall, which divides off occupied East Jerusalem from Palestinian territory on the eastern side, have evidently aroused some … Continue reading “Palestinian Voices of Gloom Get Louder”

Jerusalem Palestinians Defining Their Own Future

EAST JERUSALEM — Almost a year ago a barely noticed event took place in Sawarha, a Palestinian neighborhood in the Israeli-occupied part of the city. On that November day, Israeli Jerusalemites were voting in a new mayor and a new city council. On that same day, in this neighborhood home to 25,000, people were ignoring … Continue reading “Jerusalem Palestinians Defining Their Own Future”

US Pushing Beyond Settlement Freeze

JERUSALEM – "Nobody can usurp the right to determine the fate of the nation on their own – not the Palestine Liberation Organization, nor anyone else. It is the will of the Palestinian people that must determine our future," declares Hamas political leader in Gaza Ismail Haniyeh. Haniyeh was speaking Sunday at the onset of … Continue reading “US Pushing Beyond Settlement Freeze”

Israel Struggles to Wriggle Out of the Dock

JERUSALEM – The Goldstone Commission has delivered an unremittingly scathing report on Israel’s 22-day war against Hamas in Gaza last December and January. But the outstanding question is what kind of action the report – legal and political – will yield. Will it, in fact, result in any action at all? The 574-page report was … Continue reading “Israel Struggles to Wriggle Out of the Dock”