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Monday, November 9, 2009 The end of the peace process movie?"Current impasse" in the Israeli-Palestinian peace process has become a sad cliche. There has been only one "current impasse" and it probably began some time in 1999. Since then, there has been really nothing to show for all the meetings and photo-ops and talk about peace, other than bombed out Palestinians and blown-up Israelis. That is the meaning of "peace process" in this neighborhood. Therefore, the enthusiasm of Mr. Obama for another round of "peace process" was greeted with some apprehension. Many of us have had about as much peace process as we can stand. The apprehension was not unjustified. [more] by Moderator @ November 9, 2009: 02:43 PM CST [Link] [2 comments] Wednesday, September 23, 2009 The summit of the absurd: Middle East process without peaceEugene Ionescu or Samuel Beckett could have written a play called "The Middle East Peace Process." Yesterday, in the Yet Another Middle East Summit that took place at the UN, we witnessed another scene in that play. Vladimir, Estragon and Godot himself appeared on the stage, said the same old things, provided the usual photo op, and departed to polite applause. [more] by Moderator @ September 23, 2009: 02:04 PM CST [Link] [7 comments] Sunday, September 6, 2009 Why Israelis and Americans are angryAlmost everyone says that Israelis are angry with the United States and President Obama, and Americans are angry at Israel. If "everyone says it," it must be true. Israelis are also angry at American Jews, supposedly, and American Jews are angry at Israel. It's supposedly all about the US demand for a freeze on building in West bank settlements, an issue that revealed a gap of understanding and trust between the Israeli government and the American administration, and between Israelis and (some) American Jews. [more] by Moderator @ September 6, 2009: 07:37 PM CST [Link] [9 comments] Tuesday, August 25, 2009 The vicissitudes of the Israeli-Palestinian-American Peace Process
According to a recent poll, President Obama has managed to do a remarkable thing: He has managed to convince both the a majority of Palestinians and a plurality of Israelis that the United States sides with their enemies: 12% of Israelis and 64% of Palestinians think that Obama's policy is more supportive of Israel; 40% and 7% respectively think it is more supportive of the Palestinians, and 38% and 23% respectively think it is supportive of both sides equally. Obama has once again confounded skeptics and done the impossible. All together now please, "Yes we can!" [more]
by Moderator @ August 25, 2009: 06:02 PM CST [Link] [5 comments]
Saturday, August 22, 2009
In the past month there has been a string of bombings in Iraq, killings hundreds of people in all. About 100 died in a single day. Strangely, these have evoked almost no comment in the United States, though Iraq and Iraq policy used to be at the center of American foreign affairs concerns. [more]
by Moderator @ August 22, 2009: 09:55 PM CST [Link] [1 Comment]
Monday, August 3, 2009
Both the past and the future may be illusions, but it is in the present that blood is shed.
I have recently been sent videos by email explaining why Israel need not share Jerusalem with the Palestinians and has a right to keep it as its own, forever. I have previously seen articles by Palestinians and their supporters explaining that Jerusalem is and always was an Arab city, the third most important city for Islam, after Mecca and Medina. I suspect that the real purpose of both points of view is to raise old grudges and to obstruct any progress towards peace. As another American administration begins its search for a fair and amicable settlement to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the people who prefer the ongoing struggle to any possible settlement bring out their historical debating points once again.
by Moderator @ August 3, 2009: 12:49 AM CST [Link] [2 comments]
Sunday, July 26, 2009
Throughout the history of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and especially during the Israeli-Palestinian "peace process," both Israel and the Arab side have been engaged in a carefully designed "peace war," the object of which is to make peace impossible while creating the appearance that their side wants peace, while the other side is an obstacle to peace (see What makes Israeli-Palestinian peace initiatives fail?). The Americans and Europeans, lured by the tantalizing prospect of peace in the Middle East, have allowed themselves to fall into successive traps that complicate the issue, and allow the sides to use the mediators to extract money as well as support for their claims, in order to bolster their own positions and continue the conflict. The fate of the Obama peace initiative is no exception. [more]
by Moderator @ July 26, 2009: 09:35 PM CST [Link] [1 Comment]
"The current impasse in the Israeli-Arab conflict" is an almost ideal all-purpose title for an analysis essay, as it could have been used almost any month in the last 62 years.
The prospect of peace between Israelis and Palestinians is so attractive to most people, the need seems so urgent and solutions seem so obvious, at least to outsiders. Why then, have repeated attempts at resolution failed so miserably? (for example, see The Peace Process is dead, long live the peace process). [more]
by Moderator @ July 26, 2009: 09:32 PM CST [Link] [3 comments]
Tuesday, July 21, 2009
Danny Shapiro, a friend who has started working at the Peres Peace Center wrote the following account.
July 19 was the first day of a six day camp joining 32 Israeli kids, aged 12 - 14, from the poor southern towns of Yeruham and Sderot, and 28 Palestinian kids living in poverty and despair in the occupied territories. [more]
by Moderator @ July 21, 2009: 01:42 PM CST [Link] [1 Comment]
Monday, June 29, 2009
With respect to Western policy on the Middle East, the most significant events of the year may not be the Iranian election protests, or the US-Israel spat over settlements, or Palestinian unity or lack thereof. The most significant events may be the bankruptcy of General Motors, the world economic crisis, and the death of Michael Jackson. [more]
by Moderator @ June 29, 2009: 06:16 PM CST [Link] [6 comments]
Sunday, June 21, 2009
Almost anything anyone writes about the Iranian unrest may be true or false, and any predictions are likely to be wrong. The Iranians are now admitting that 13 people were killed yesterday, but CNN and others put the toll at 19-150 (see videos posted there as well). Protests erupted in Shiraz, in Isfahan and elsewhere. Basij thugs seem to be killing people even if they are only onlookers or look like protesters. Tanks had reportedly entered Azzadi Square on Saturday. On Sunday it was reported that Feezah Rafsanjani, daughter of Ayatollah Rafsanjani, and four other family members had been arrested. Iran has also expelled BBC reporter Jon Leyne. We can expect that media reports will be even more circumspect in the future. [more]
by Moderator @ June 21, 2009: 05:11 PM CST [Link] [1 Comment]
Monday, June 15, 2009
Benjamin Netanyahu's speech (see Address by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the Begin-Sadat Center should not be viewed in the context of a "peace process" or judged in terms of its relevance to peacemaking. None of the peace-related utterances of Israeli, Palestinian or the Arab or Muslim world are actually directed at making peace, because none of the parties believes in the possibility of peace at this point or has worked to develop, in its own constituency, a concept of peace that might be acceptable to the other side. [more]
by Moderator @ June 15, 2009: 06:20 PM CST [Link] [2 comments]
Sunday, June 14, 2009
How, you may ask, could the Iranian election results be worse than they are? A virulent demagogue, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, has been 'elected' in a transparently fraudulent process in which the number of reported votes increased with d in a charming, orderly and improbable linear fashion as the count progressed. Voters found themselves locked out of polling places and protests were crushed with calm efficiency. [more]
by Moderator @ June 14, 2009: 10:12 PM CST [Link] [No Comments]
Friday, June 5, 2009
Those looking for definitive policy statements in Barack Obama's Cairo speech will be mostly disappointed. Barack Obama's Middle East policy is still relatively unformulated or unannounced. If he has a detailed plan for foiling Al-Qaeda, for meeting the challenge posed by Iran and for bringing peace to the Israelis and Palestinians, he has not told us about it. [more]
by Moderator @ June 5, 2009: 12:32 AM CST [Link] [No Comments]
Saturday, May 30, 2009
There are a number of more or less mythical narratives floating around about the Middle East today, and these have become rallying points for various groups who advocate this or that position. They generate a great deal of noise, but they are mostly about a virtual reality, not about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, US-Israel relations or the problem or Iranian nuclear development. [more]
by Moderator @ May 30, 2009: 06:51 PM CST [Link] [2 comments]
Friday, May 29, 2009
Benny Morris
Almost any book about the Middle East by Benny Morris has to be an important book, and this one is both important and timely. The Obama administration is pressing for a "Two State solution" and the Arab states are at least saying they are committed to such a solution. At the same time, there were two conferences dedicated to a "One state solution" or alternative to the "two state solution. One conference was held by right wing Zionists, and one by anti-Zionists, each pushing "solutions" that will basically obliterate the other side.
by Moderator @ May 29, 2009: 12:28 AM CST [Link] [1 Comment]
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