My latest column for New Matilda is about the Zionist lobby and its hopefully stunted plans for the Middle East: Public and private noises from the Obama administration have the Israel lobby spooked. Now they’re getting ready for the fight of their lives, writes Antony Loewenstein Last week in Washington 7000 delegates from America’s most…
Showing all posts tagged Syria
What would peace truly look like these days?
This could be a major development in the Middle East…or just one more bogus attempt to resolve a conflict that Israel has no interest to truly change: America is putting the final touches to a hugely ambitious peace plan for the Middle East, aimed at ending more than 60 years of conflict between Israel and…
Power of the people
Dawn is Pakistan’s leading English language paper. Today it publishes a review by Mustafa Qadri of my book, The Blogging Revolution: Hot on the heels of his last book, My Israel Question (a history of the Israeli occupation of Palestine from the perspective of an anti-Zionist Jewish Australian), freelance journalist Antony Loewenstein delves into the…
A mess of a region
The New Yorker’s Seymour Hersh on prospects for peace in the Middle East: On Israel, [New Yorker editor David] Remnick is more pessimistic: he doesn’t see a peace agreement on the horizon. “I think in the short run, you’re dead right,” Hersh says, but adds that the Golan Heights is still very much on the…
Of course the fight will go on
These kinds of statements will continue for as long the occupation deepens: The leaders of Iran and Syria reaffirmed their support on Tuesday for what they characterized as “Palestinian resistance,” a defiant message to the United States and its Middle East allies, which are uneasy over American efforts to forge closer ties with Iran. President…
But will Obama put pressure to make this happen?
There is much to criticise in this Haaretz editorial (not least its optimism that a two-state solution is still feasible, let alone moral), but one can’t fault its determination to pressure the hardline Israeli government against trying to maintain the intolerable status-quo: History provides very few opportunities to utterly change political realities. It seems such…
We shouldn’t be grieving for the death of newspapers
My following article appears today in Online Opinion: As a journalist who spends the vast majority of my life online, the seemingly never-ending debates about the future of the media and newspapers can be exhausting and predictable. The same mantras are heard over and over again. Where will the news come from when newsprint dies?…
The necessity of despots
The sale of doormats featuring the Star of David, enabling Syrians to express their anger with Israel every time they enter or leave their homes, went up in Damascus during the Gaza war. But Syria – despite its brutality towards its own people – is about to be brought in from the cold. And President…
Talking Palestine in Ubud
I’m currently in Ubud, Bali after being invited by the Ubud Writers and Readers Festival to conduct an event tonight. The following article appears in the current edition of the local paper, The Bali Advertiser: 2009 Ubud Writers and Readers Festival presents Antony Loewenstein author of “My Israel Question” and “The Blogging Revolution” Just as…
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…