TZIPORI, Israel — Amin Muhammad Ali, a 74-year-old refugee from a destroyed Palestinian village in northern Israel, says he only feels truly at peace when he stands among his ancestors’ graves. The cemetery, surrounded on all sides by Jewish homes and farms, is a small time capsule, transporting Mr Muhammad Ali — known to …
Continue reading “Israel Begins Sell-Off of Refugees’ Land”
JERUSALEM — Has the just-ended Fatah party convention, concluded in a cavalcade of personnel change, affected the prospects for a two-state solution that might finally resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict? Even more than the dramatic shift of power from the old guard of politicians who had returned from exile to the middle-aged generation that grew up …
Continue reading “Suddenly, It’s Advantage Fatah, and a Solution”
Philip Giraldi says a war with Iran benefits no one
Ira Chernus on the peace process
Pro-Israel lobbyists won the support of 77 senators (out of 100) for a letter sent to President Barack Obama that urged him to "press Arab leaders" to consider making dramatic, upfront peace overtures to Israel. But one key Arab state, Saudi Arabia, has already clearly communicated its refusal to make any such gestures at this …
Continue reading “Saudi Arabia May Not Follow Obama’s Israel Plan”
The Israeli Defense Force (IDF) is taking new measures to warn Palestinian civilians about impending aerial attacks. This comes in response to questions raised over whether Israel had complied with international laws during its 2006 war in Lebanon and the Gaza offensive earlier this year. Human rights groups have expressed concern that pamphlets dropped by …
Continue reading “New Israeli Plan to Warn Civilians of Impending Attacks”
BETHLEHEM — Fatah, the largest faction of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), is fighting for its very survival as the movement faces implosion, and attacks from all sides. The issues have come to the fore at the sixth revolutionary council of the party that began in Bethlehem Tuesday. In turn the survival of the Fatah-affiliated …
Continue reading “Peace in Balance as Fatah Fights for Survival”
BREJ, Gaza — Tens of thousands of children in Gaza are still suffering from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) following Israel’s three-week bombing December-January. Several crisis counseling teams run by international organizations and NGOs have been carrying out intervention program aimed at helping Gaza’s most vulnerable put the pieces of their lives back together. But …
Continue reading “Gaza’s Traumatized Children Struggle to Rise Again”
The AIPAC spy scandal was a big setback for Israel’s lobby in the U.S., despite its ambiguous outcome. Yes, the espionage charges against AIPAC officials Steve Rosen and Keith Weissman were eventually dropped – after every effort to obstruct justice and "graymail" the government was made on the defendants’ behalf – yet just the fact …
Continue reading “The ‘Patriotic’ Spy”
Dear Dov Yermiya, I have received the distressing letter that you recently sent to a limited number of friends. You paint the Israeli reality in dark – but true – colors, and end by cutting your ties with it. "Therefore I, a 95-year-old Sabra (native-born Israeli Jew), who has plowed its fields, planted trees, built …
Continue reading “A Jeremiad and a Message of Hope” 
