Middle East

NOVANEWS Amos Perlmutter May/June 1995 Summary:  The Oslo accord has failed. Battered by a wave of fundamentalist terrorism, Israelis are ready to elect a hard-line Likud government, while many frustrated Palestinians are spurning the plo in favor of the Islamic extremists of Hamas. Locked in a political embrace, ploChairman Yasir Arafat and Israeli PrimeMinister Yitzhak Rabin are dragging each other down. The process may stagger on, but it will never yield peace. Amos Perlmutter is Professor of Political Science at American University and Editor of The Journal of Strategic Studies. Login or Register to leave a comment. Sign-up for free weekly updates from ForeignAffairs.com. THE FAILURE OF OSLO The Declaration of Principles signed by Israel and the Palestine Liberation O...

NOVANEWS Khalil Shikaki Summary:  The current turmoil in the Gaza Strip represents the most serious challenge to Yasir Arafat's authority in decades. Israel's planned disengagement from Gaza brought to a boil long-simmering tensions among Palestinian factions demanding a change in the status quo. Holding national elections before the pullout may be the only way to avoid chaos and save any chance at Middle East peace. Khalil Shikaki is Director of the Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research in Ramallah. Reading List What to Read on the Middle East Peace Process Steven A. Cook An annotated Foreign Affairs syllabus on the Middle East peace process. Read Essay Armistice Now Ehud Yaari Rather than pursuing a final-status deal now, Israel and the Palestinian Authority shoul...

NOVANEWS bY: Ehud Yaari Summary:  Rather than pursuing a final-status deal now, Israel and the Palestinian Authority should agree to establish a Palestinian state within temporary armistice boundaries. Without it, the Palestinians may abandon the idea of a two-state solution altogether. EHUD YAARI is Lafer International Fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy and Middle East Commentator for Channel 2 news in Israel. He is the author, with the late Ze'ev Schiff, of Israel's Lebanon War and Intifada: The Palestinian Uprising -- Israel's Third Front. Reading List What to Read on the Middle East Peace Process Steven A. Cook An annotated Foreign Affairs syllabus on the Middle East peace process. Read Essay The Future of Palestine Khalil Shikaki The current turmoil ...

NOVANEWS by Philip Weiss Mohammed Omer, the Gaza journalist who was beaten by Israeli forces at immigration after he accepted a prize for his reporting in Europe last year, is apparently now being blocked from doing a speaking gig in Chicago, with Ali Abunimah. His support group has called for the U.S. to let him in and reports: The U.S. consulate has held award-winning Palestinian Journalist Mohammed Omer’s visa application for an extended period of time, effectively canceling his planned U.S. speaking tour without the explanation that a denial would require… Omer was to visit Houston, Santa Fe, and Chicago, where local publisher Haymarket Books was to host his Newberry Library event, “Reflections on Life and War in Gaza,” alongside a broad set of interfaith religiou...

NOVANEWS Fact Check- 3 case studies in the distortion of reality and “extremizing” peace advocates More Recent Articles Search MuzzleWatch As Republican pollster (and Israeli Hasbara guru) Frank Luntz knows all too well, the relationship between reality and language is increasingly tenuous. Words are how he carefully works to shape political outcomes. But it’s also true that the rather wide space between reality and language, especially on the issue of Israel-Palestine, is where the blogosphere can make a real difference. Here are three examples of deliberate and not so deliberate blurring of messages and how people and peace groups are routinely “extremized”, as Naomi Klein says. CASE 1) Though I have some real disagreements with Moshe Yaroni’s post in Zeek on the Reut ...

NOVANEWS "I arrived at the bridge, went through the routinized luggage and security screenings and headed for the passport window. The woman in the occupying army at the window asked me questions when it was my turn. She asked me what I was planning to do in "Israel," a word and question that makes my blood boil given that I was clearly trying to enter Palestine. Although I have spent extended periods of time living in Palestine since the summer of 2005, this is the first time I did not say that I was doing research as my reason for entering. This question normally got all sorts of questions, too, but at least it did not implicate my friends, something I had been unwilling to do before now. When I first went to Palestine in 2005 I used names of colonists, because I would much rather to hav...

NOVANEWS "Some Jordanian shopkeepers place posters at the doors of their shops reading "Sorry, we do not receive dogs & Israelis", according to Zionist army radio broadcast on Thursday."

NOVANEWS by Philip Weiss Israelis prevented Palestinians from crossing checkpoint near Qalqilya so that they could get from their homes to school. Palestinians held the classroom at the checkpoint. Classroom Related posts: Reps Baird and Ellison from Gaza: ‘If this had happened in our own country, there would be national outrage’ Testimony to Goldstone: ‘What happened at the mill is total destruction’ Jimmy Carter: ‘the citizens of Palestine are treated more like animals than like human beings’ Palestinian Mayor Says WINEP Scholar Misrepresented Him to Congress Snapshot from a police state

NOVANEWS Ynet  From 'Masbirim' website  Foreign Ministry: Israel must throw off mantle of 'apartheid state' http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3865072,00.html Conference at Rishon Lezion College of Management reinforces calls for Israel to reposition its image internationally. 'Branding has to be congruent with Israel's reality and culture,' official says  Ynetnews A senior Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Wednesday reinforced the need for Israel to shake off the mantle of "the new apartheid state" and redefine itself to the international community, at a conference held at The College of Management – Academic Studies (COMAS) in Rishon Lezion.  The conference, entitled "Repositioning Israel" examined the impact of recent events on the perception of Israel, and how they overshadow the c...

NOVANEWS Ynet Friday\\: http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3865163,00.html Hundreds protest against West Bank security fence Despite IDF edict declaring area a closed military zone, demonstrators gather for weekly protest in Bilin, Naalin. Security forces arrest three rioters Shmulik Grossman Published:  03.19.10, 15:39 / Israel News  Hundreds of Palestinians and left-wing activists, both foreign and Israeli, demonstrated Friday near Bilin and Naalin against the construction of the West Bank security barrier, this despite the fact that earlier this week the IDF declared that the area surrounding the separation fence in the villages' vicinity will be declared a closed military zone every Friday through August 17. Some 300 protestors gathered in villages located north of Ramallah, inc...