The two-state solution “dream” is fading by the day in the Middle East. Here’s why: A report by the Israeli left-wing NGO Peace Now released Monday says that the government is planning to build more than 73,300 new housing units in the West Bank. Peace Now estimates that if all of the units are built,…
Showing all posts tagged settlements
What peace really means
While an ever-growing number of Israelis are embracing extremism: A small number of young men soon to be drafted into the IDF from Hesder yeshivot around the country gathered at the Jerusalem Theater on Monday evening to hear speakers from the national-religious camp espouse the virtues of fulfilling “the commandment of war.” The event, the…
Trying to mask the reality
Gideon Levy writes in Haaretz: As the war in Gaza raged, Israel Defense Forces reservists apparently thought anything was permissible: It was possible, maybe even necessary, to kill innocents, in the West Bank, too. Under cover of war, they thought, they could also kill a handcuffed Palestinian. It may not receive much international media coverage,…
Why nobody should accept this situation
Christopher Hitchens laments Israel’s political reliance on a Russian “thug”: A reliable friend and colleague swears that he saw the following incident in the Israeli-occupied territories a couple of years ago. A Palestinian physician, in urgent need of permission to travel, was trying to persuade a soldier at a roadblock to allow him to hurry…
The gift that Hamas gives
Tony Karon, Time.com, February 12: Fatah leaders see the Israeli election as confirming what they already knew: there’s nothing to be gained by continuing the charade of U.S.-sponsored talks about talks with the Israelis. Palestinians could not get what they needed from Olmert, and they know that his successors will take even more of a…
Blame the Jews for the attacks
The following report, published in Hebrew in Ma’ariv on February 23, has been translated by Melbourne-based Sol Salbe. The content speaks for itself and proves, yet again, that the Jewish state’s behaviour is causing anti-Semitism around the world: Olmert: Antisemitism on the rise – because of the Occupation During the weekly full ministry meeting Olmert…
What happens at the checkpoints
Israel’s Back Yard is a just released blog in English focusing on testimonies from Israel’s checkpoints in the West Bank. Written by an Israeli human rights activist, this blog has been running for over a year in Hebrew, and has been launched this week in an English version.
Just don’t mention the settlements
Think Progress blogger Matthew Yglesias challenges the militant Zionist view that peace in the Middle East will only come when Iran is crushed: Israel’s Palestinian problem is fairly simple to define—there are millions of Palestinians living in Israeli-controlled territory. To preserve its Jewish character, Israel doesn’t want to give these Palestinians the rights of Israeli…
The Jewish state faces a necessary shift
MJ Rosenberg, from the liberal Israel Policy Forum, sees a major shift in American policy towards the Middle East and warns hardline Zionists that their time is up: Some pro-Israel activists are preparing for intensified war against this phenomenon [challenging Israeli policy]. They have long been in the business of shooting the messenger, believing that…
Just another barrier to peace
A secret Israeli database reveals the full extent of an illegal settlement.