The Israeli-Palestinian talks recently convened by President Barack Obama may or may not lead to a peace agreement. But the negotiations could mark the last serious attempt by a U.S. president to invest his or her own political capital and American diplomatic prestige...
Israeli-Palestinian Accommodation: A Circle Not Easily Squared
JERUSALEM - Security first or borders first: security says Israel, borders retort the Palestinians. Israeli-Palestinian peace talks are finally again getting under way. Israel, though, remains adamant that the only chance the talks have to make headway is for its...
Lights Out in Gaza
GAZA CITY - The Muslim festival Eid approaches, but not the end to power cuts that have darkened the month-long Ramadan fasting leading up to the festival. Or to the agony of Gazans, made worse by the reminder that it's approaching a festive time. The prolonged...
Media New Battleground for Palestinians and Israelis
RAMALLAH - Palestinians and Israelis are using the media as a new battleground in their war to win hearts and minds across the globe, even as the protracted conflict in the Mideast drags on with no apparent end in sight. Israel has led the way for decades with its...
Palestinian Patients Suffer From Hamas-Fatah Rivalry
RAMALLAH - Cancer patient Ahmed Abu Fuad needs chemotherapy to survive. Muhammad Subeh needs an eye transplant, while paramedic Alaa Sarhan desperately needs surgery to remove shrapnel from his body. But these Gazans are unable to leave the area to seek the required...
Work Permits and Ramadan in the West Bank
HIRBET DEIR, Occupied West Bank - For Muhammad el-Baradiyeh, 38, the Muslim holy month of Ramadan is always a blessing. In fact, every day of the month-and-a-half prior to Ramadan has been good for Muhammad. Thanks to a permit granted by the Israeli authorities, he's...
Israeli Settlers Step Up ‘Price-Tag’ Policy
A rabbi from one of the most violent settlements in the West Bank was questioned on suspicion of incitement last week as Israeli police stepped up their investigation into a book in which he sanctions the killing of non-Jews, including children and babies. Rabbi...
All Quiet on the Eastern Front
People endowed with sensitive political ears were startled this week by two words, which, so it seemed, escaped from the mouth of Benjamin Netanyahu by accident: “Eastern front." Once upon a time these words were part of the everyday vocabulary of the occupation. In...
Rape, Deception, or Racism?
JERUSALEM - "It was consensual, I owe an apology to no one other than my wife and two children. They're the ones who've suffered from this. And myself." Sabbar Kashur, 30, is a Palestinian Arab resident of the Shuafat neighborhood in occupied East Jerusalem. He's just...
Egypt Punishes Gaza More
CAIRO - Almost two months since Egypt announced it would reopen its Rafah border terminal with the Gaza Strip, operation of the crossing remains sorely limited. "Rafah has only been opened to passengers and some medical supplies," Hatem al-Buluk, journalist and...


