More Mideast Doors Closing Than Opening

JERUSALEM — Israel is digging in its heels. Government officials said Wednesday that Israel does not intend to cooperate with the upcoming United Nations investigation into whether Israel and Hamas both committed war crimes during the recent Gaza war. The officials say they fear the investigation appointed by the UN Human Rights Council last month, … Continue reading “More Mideast Doors Closing Than Opening”

West Bank a Time Bomb Waiting to Explode

Tension between Israelis and Palestinians is rising sharply as reflected in a number of increasingly bloody and violent confrontations since Israel’s devastating war in Gaza at the beginning of the year. While Gaza, which the Islamic organization Hamas controls, has been a powder-keg for several years, recent attacks in the West Bank, which is under … Continue reading “West Bank a Time Bomb Waiting to Explode”

Visa for Top Netanyahu Aide In Question

The first official test of wills between the administration of U.S. President Barack Obama and the new Likud-led government of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu could well be waged over the issuance, or restoration, of a simple entry visa. For the past two years, Dr. Uzi Arad, the former director of intelligence for Israel’s Mossad, … Continue reading “Visa for Top Netanyahu Aide In Question”

All Unclear Over Israeli Policy

JERUSALEM — How genuine is Israel’s new leadership about peace when the Prime Minister says that he will go a long way towards striving for a settlement with the Palestinians, but purposefully omits to endorse an independent Palestinian state; and, when his foreign minister warns, "If you want peace, prepare for war," a blunt statement … Continue reading “All Unclear Over Israeli Policy”

Obama’s Lieberman Problem

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government was sworn in Tuesday — just one day later his foreign minister, Avigdor Lieberman, set off a firestorm by saying he judged Israel was no longer bound by agreements reached at the late-2007 peace conference convened by the U.S. in Annapolis, Maryland. Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul-Gheit was one … Continue reading “Obama’s Lieberman Problem”

Israeli Military Cloaks Abuses

JERUSALEM — The Israeli army’s Advocate General has summarily closed an internal investigation into allegations stemming from accounts by soldiers of abuses against Palestinian civilians committed during Israel’s recent war on Hamas in Gaza. It took the military investigators just half the duration of the 22-day war in Gaza to bulldoze the accounts and to … Continue reading “Israeli Military Cloaks Abuses”