NABATIYEH, Lebanon – In the mountains towering above this southern city, Hezbollah (Party of God) is building a new line of defense on lands where a fierce war was once fought between the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) and Israel. An asphalt road rising up from the sea seems to carve up the southern chain of …
Continue reading “Hezbollah Fortifies Frontier Against Israel”
A short historical quiz: Which state: Arose after a holocaust in which a third of its people were destroyed? Drew from that holocaust the conclusion that only superior military forces could ensure its survival? Accorded the army a central role in its life, making it "an army that had a state, rather than a state …
Continue reading “Prussia in Palestine”
Jonathan Cook says Israel encourages its own suicide bombers
Try to imagine this: An American president visits Israel and in a speech given close to the vast "separation wall" Israel continues to build in part through Palestinian territory, says: "Mr. Netanyahu, if you seek peace, if you seek prosperity for Israel and the region, if you seek liberalization: Come here to this gate! Mr. …
Continue reading “The Great Wall of 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 Palestinian-Israeli peace prospects. The incipient European initiative, inspired by Sweden, which currently …
Continue reading “Europe Steps In to Pressure Israel”
Some 35,000 Bedouin residents of Israel’s southern Negev have been denied the right to hold their first local council election after the Israeli parliament passed a law at the last minute to cancel this month’s ballot. The new law gives the government the power to postpone elections to the regional council, known as Abu Basma, …
Continue reading “Israel’s Bedouin Denied Right to Elections”
Leave it to the State Department to soft-pedal religious extremism in the Middle East. Oh, not in, say, Iran or Saudi Arabia. In the most recent edition of the department’s annual Report on International Religious Freedom, both are designated "Countries of Particular Concern," members of a select group chastised for their extreme intolerance. Which is …
Continue reading “Israel Slips the Snare of ‘Particular Concern’”
Grant Smith on Israel’s dishonest dealings in the US
U.S. special envoy to the Middle East George Mitchell and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton welcomed an announcement by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu Wednesday that Israel will impose a 10-month "moratorium" on settlements, but warned that the move falls short of a freeze on settlement building — a condition that has been a mainstay …
Continue reading “Settlements ‘Moratorium’ Still Short of Freeze”
South Africa deported an Israeli airline official last week following allegations that Israel’s secret police, the Shin Bet, had infiltrated Johannesburg international airport in an effort to gather information on South African citizens, particularly black and Muslim travelers. The move by the South African government followed an investigation by local TV showing an undercover reporter …
Continue reading “South Africa Deports Israeli Airline Official After Investigation” 
