The Annapolis “peace” conference has concluded with Israel and the Palestinian Authority pledging to reach some kind of agreement by the end of 2008. Talking is always a good thing, far preferable to war, but the reality on the ground and the deep splits in both sides make the chances of peace almost impossible. Leading…
Showing all posts tagged settlements
The thief refuses to return
Gideon Levy, Haaretz, November 25: The public discourse in Israel has momentarily awoken from its slumber. “To give or not to give,” that is the Shakespearean question – “to make concessions” or “not to make concessions.” It is good that initial signs of life in the Israeli public have emerged. It was worth going to…
Addicted to “Jewish” land
Gideon Levy, Haaretz, November 18: A festive day for peace: Israel is planning to announce a freeze on construction in the settlements as compensation for refusing to discuss the core issues. The Palestinians are ecstatic at all the good-will gestures Israel is throwing their way. First came the release of prisoners, now a freeze on…
Jews who like to expand
A computer game the whole family can play: Global Conflicts: Palestine is a new award-winning 3D role-playing simulation computer game in which the player assumes the role of a freelance journalist who has just arrived in Jerusalem armed with a pen, a notepad and their sharp wits to get them through the challenges ahead. The…
Yes, this is apartheid South Africa
South African Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu: “We hope the occupation of the Palestinian territory by Israel will end. There is a cry of anguish from the depth of my heart, to my spiritual relatives. Please, please hear the call, the noble call of our scripture. Because of what I experienced in South Africa, I harbour…
Isolating those in need
Israel’s real agenda in Gaza? Haaretz explains (despite the wishes of Zionist lobbyists in the US, who just wish those anti-Israel Haaretz journalists would keep their mouths shut and show public solidarity with the Jewish state): There is an enormous gap between the reasons Israel is giving for the decision to impose significant sanctions against…
The God complex
… An Israeli soldier describes the experience of being in the occupied Palestinian territories: ‘The most important thing is that it removes the burden of the law from you. You feel that you are the law. You are the law. You are the one who decides… As though from the moment you leave the place that…
War without end
Tony Karon, Rootless Cosmopolitan, October 16: Not surprising, then, that Abbas and Olmert want different things from Anapolis: Abbas needs his persistence with diplomacy to be vindicated by rapid movement towards a two-state solution based on Israel’s 1967 borders, with Jerusalem the shared capital and some form of recognition of the rights of Palestinian refugees.…
The lies of Zionist overtures
How much longer will we have to listen to lies about Israel’s desperate search for peace? The Guardian reports: The Israeli army has ordered the seizure of Palestinian land surrounding four West Bank villages apparently in order to hugely expand settlements around Jerusalem, it emerged yesterday. The confiscation happened as Israeli and Palestinian negotiators met…