After nearly six months of pleading with Abbas and the PA to talk to the Israelis while they continue the settler colonization of their future state…
After months of pressuring the Arab League to provide a way for Abbas to sit down to said talks without losing the final shred of credibility he (arguably) has left…
After [...]
Concerned citizens from around the world will begin observance this week of Israeli Apartheid Week. This is an excellent opportunity to spend some time thinking about the system of institutionalized and violent discrimination in place in Israel/Palestine, about your personal role in the conflict (we are almost all parties to Palestinian oppression either through [...]
Ha’aretz runs today a stunning and thoughtful article about how Israel must learn the language of human rights. Written by a media consultant and former adviser to the Interior Ministry, Gilad Heimann, the article manages to cut through Israeli social psychology and government hasbara efforts with admirable efficiency.
The core argument is this: [...]
This news story will not be news to anyone bothering to read the Israeli papers as Israel was attacking Gaza last winter. IDF spokespeople made it very clear Israel was going to privilege Jewish soldiers’ lives over any concerns about war crimes. This argument is, in fact, part of the Goldstone report’s case [...]
According to the most recent report on settlements by the Foundation for Middle East Peace, a Washington-based think tank, “the main operational effect of the settlement moratorium announced by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on November 26 has been to increase the pace of authorized new settlement housing construction above historical averages.”
At present, “close [...]
Still haven’t booked that Spring Break 2010 ticket? Allow to me to suggest something, a trip with mystique, exotic lands, spicy foods, incomprehensible languages, dark-haired beauties, and the smallest tinge of danger just to add that extra element to the trip.
Am I talking about India, Cuba, Thailand, Turkey, or Nicaragua?
Nope, I am talking about [...]
After months of dawdling, Israel finally completed its UN assignment right at the deadline. Well, not really. As the UN mandated timeframe for investigating IDF crimes in Gaza was coming to a close, the Israeli government handed over a partially finished document that summarized the homework already done and the homework it intends [...]
A number of my readers have asked me about the difference between a settlement and an outpost. This distinction is typically made, in the minds of Israelis, as the difference in formal recognition by the government versus the informal establishment of small caravans, often by the most radical fringes of settler society.
This [...]
“They sat [the child] down and put his hand on the chair and simply broke it right there on the chair,” recounted a female IDF soldier.
The blogosphere is burning today with the recently published accounts of female soldiers in the IDF, who are expected to compensate for their relative physical weakness with extraordinary [...]