The Obama Administration’s mandate of a settlement will include any Jewish construction projects in East Jerusalem, according to U.S. officials cited in various news reports. The clarification comes amidst plans to transform a hotel in predominantly Palestinian East Jerusalem into apartments for Jews. Protestors rallied yesterday to show opposition to the construction project. Opposition to construction […]
The Hamas government in the Gaza Strip released its first major motion picture in an effort to transform a small lot in the embattled territory into an Islamic Hollywood. The film, produced by Hamas with $200,000 over 10-months, depicts the story of 23-year old Hamas commander Emad Akel who was killed in 1993 by Israeli […]
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 […]
Earlier this week, there was a large explosion in southern Lebanon about 10 km from the Israeli border. UNIFIL officials said that the blast was likely from a Hizballah weapons deposit and could constitute a breach of UNSC resolution 1701 which ended the 2006 War between Hizballah and Israel. This week marks the three year […]
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. […]
This Sunday will mark the third anniversary of the start if the 2006 War between Israel and Lebanon, and it’s still unclear what was accomplished. Lebanon suffered tremendous damages, both economically and in terms of lives lost. Israel didn’t suffer nearly the same damages, but the brief war tarnished the image of the IDF as […]
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 Economist profiles Fouad Ali el Himma, the former leader of Morocco’s new Authenticity and Modernity Party. It is an anti-Islamist party primarily comprised of those loyal to the King. (The magazine calls its platform “centrist and non-ideological). El Himma leveraged his close relationship with the King himself to generate interest in the recently formed […]
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. […]