Former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert declares the overall political peace process as the main point of contention between Israeli and Palestinian officials while dismissing settlements as relevant, he wrote in an op-ed in today’s Washington Post. Instead of focusing on the settlements, Olmert suggests focusing on institution building, such as establishing a vibrant Palestinian […]
Israel’s recent navy mobilization through the Suez Canal represents a major initiative to strike Iranian nuclear facilities, according to officials first report in the Times of London. Any Israeli strike on Iran would require war ships to pass through the Suez and also include fly-overs of either Iraq or Saudi Arabia. While the U.S. government would likely […]
Two major media outlets in Israel and the West Bank face closure. The Palestinian Authority shuttered the offices of Al-Jazeera in the West Bank likely due to a controversial report on former P.A. President and Palestinian icon Yasser Arafat. The story cited a Fatah official accusing current P.A. President Mahmoud Abbas of conspiring to assassinate […]
Due to inconsistencies importing and exporting goods from Palestinian controlled areas because of Israeli control of the border, a conglomeration of U.S. and Palestinian institutions established an insurance project for Palestinian companies to mitigate loss. The Palestinian Political Risk Insurance project provides certain companies with economic security programs in the event that border closures and violence […]
House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Howard Berman sharply condemned Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas for preconditioning peace talks by mandating a settlement freeze. Berman’s comments could mark a divergence between House Democrats and the official Obama Administration position that calls for an immediate halt to all settlement activity. Acknowledging recent discussion on settlements between Israeli and U.S. […]
Israeli authorities recently arrested former Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney aboard an aid ship headed for the Gaza Strip (see previous blog entry here). After her capture, the former B-rate Congresswoman compared her imprisonment to that of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. I think not. Her career as a public servant in the United States gained little […]
When speaking of the Arab-Israeli conflict, we generally conjure images of Hamas in Gaza or a potential war with Syria. However, another group of Arabs constitutes a considerable issue for Israel- the Bedouins in the Negev. Prior to the creation of Israel in 1948, small Bedouin tribes (or clans called hamullahs) travelled throughout the Negev […]
Today marks the start of the 18th annual Maccabiah games that pits Jew against Jew in various sporting events. Jews from around the world descended on Tel Aviv for futsal (indoor soccer), tennis, cricket and various other competitions for what some deem “the Jewish Olympics.” This year, approximately 5,700 athletes from 60 countries intend to participate. […]
See the below film review of Waltz With Bashir from fellow FPA blogger Sean Patrick Murphy. The film, while focusing on the 1982 invasion of Lebanon, captures Israelis’ struggle with war. The Israeli government financially supported production for the film. The details of Israel’s actions during the war were subject to significant criticism, both internal […]
The United States and Israel may have agreed to a solution on settlement construction that would appease both governments as well as the Arab world, the Israeli media reported. Israel reportedly agreed to end all new settlement construction for a few months while the United States would not condemn the completion of certain settlement projects. […]
Israel’s Channel Two ran a news segment on Peace Now advocates detailing settlement development in Israel. The most interesting point in the segment comes when a settler and an activist argue over who is the true friend of Israel. The activist claims that by informing Israelis about the settlements, they are serving the country. The […]
In order to thwart Iranian nuclear ambitions, the Israeli secret service may be considering the use of cyber-warfare, according to a recent report. The Mossad could plant malicious software into the computer systems of nuclear facilities that would trigger explosives according to a predetermined criteria. The cyber-attack could include crashing certain systems or even rerouting […]
Two recent instances in Egypt dismissed the peace treaty signed with Israel in order to protect Egyptian national security or censure individuals with moderate views towards the Jewish state. Egyptian courts revoked the citizenship of Egyptians that married Israelis, citing the children as potential security risks. Because the offspring of the couple would carry Israeli […]
Shaul Arieli, former commander of the northern brigade in the Gaza Strip, candidly reject the Israeli governments insistence that natural growth in the settlements must continue, he said in an interview with Middle East Progress. He stated that hundreds of unoccupied apartments remain in the settlements and that these housing units should be occupied before […]
Israelis on both sides of the political spectrum always lament that high Arab birth rates represent an existential threat to Israel that dwarfs any terror strike or Iranian nuclear weapons program. These pessimists (of which I’m one) contend that non-Jewish Arabs procreate at much higher rates than Jews. Due to the semi-democratic nature of Israel, […]