Tag: palestine

The recent arrest of two respected public figures from Israel’s Palestinian Arab minority in night-time raids on their homes by the Shin Bet secret police – brought to light this week when a gag order was partially lifted – has sent shock waves through the community.  The arrests are not the first of their kind. … Continue reading “Israel’s Red Line: Real Democracy”

RAMALLAH — Israeli nuclear whistle-blower Mordechai Vanunu has been sentenced to another three months imprisonment for allegedly refusing to perform community service in West Jerusalem. Vanunu, a former employee at Israel’s secret Dimona nuclear facility in the Negev desert, spent 18 years in jail after he revealed information about the facility to the international media.  … Continue reading “Is Israel Sliding Towards a Police State?”

RAMALLAH — Several Palestinians have set up a protest tent in no-man’s land in the northern Gaza Strip, near the Erez border crossing into Israel, as they protest their deportation from the Israeli occupied West Bank into Gaza where Hamas authorities have refused them entry. Tens of thousands of other Palestinians face a possibly similar … Continue reading “West Bankers Made Refugees in Their Own Country”

It does seem as if something may be changing, however slowly, in Washington when it comes to policy towards Israel and the Palestinians.  Rumors, for instance, are spreading in the media that the Obama administration is threatening to take Middle East peace negotiations out of the hands of the Israelis (and Palestinians) and put them in the hands … Continue reading “Blood or Treasure? Obama’s Crucial Choice in the Middle East”

RAMALLAH – Proximity peace talks between Israelis and Palestinians, due to begin shortly after months of delay due to Israel’s continued settlement building on occupied Palestinian land, appear to have little chance of making a breakthrough. However, there appear to have been some positive developments which have altered the equation somewhat and which could provide … Continue reading “Hope Amidst Grim Prospects for Mideast Peace”

Reports earlier this month that President Barack Obama may present a comprehensive U.S. peace plan for resolving the longstanding Israeli-Palestinian conflict have spurred a growing public debate over its wisdom and timing. While relatively few voices are calling for Washington to table such a plan immediately, some experts argue that Washington should be preparing the … Continue reading “To Peace Plan or Not to Peace Plan, and When?”

BEIT UMMAR, West Bank — Residents of this Palestinian village refuse to buy the idea that the flood of raw sewage from the adjacent Israeli settlement of Kfar Etzion, that destroyed vineyards and contaminated their drinking water, was an accident. The Israeli Civil Administration, which administers the occupied West Bank, claims the spillage was the … Continue reading “Settler Sewage Ruins Palestinian Crops, Drinking Water”