Archive for the ‘Palestinians’ Category

Violence in Jerusalem Part III

 At the first, second, twentieth or maybe even the fiftieth glance, the current outbreak of Palestinian violence appears to be yet another repeat of an old scenario. However, a closer look indicates that there have been many changes to the old script. These modifications appear to be so significant that, if they remain unaltered, they […]

Space in the Middle East

Last time, I noted with great sympathy that most people have become totally confused about the events taking place in the Middle East. Since then, that confusion has risen to unprecedented levels…not least because US jets bombed the Iraqi city of Tikrit in order to aid the Iranian-supported Shiite militias doing battle there while, at […]

The Success or Failure of the Peace Talks is not Contingent on the Outcome of the Current Election Campaign

I have been studying Israel and the Middle East and Israel in detail for almost fifty years, and I have come to one irrefutable conclusion. Modern Israel has produced almost as much as and maybe even more mythology than did ancient Greece.   In most places, myths are used to try to explain things that […]

The New Diplomacy in the New Middle East

I have long preached that major economic, social, political and military events do not just happen. They are invariably the product of processes that have been underway for a very long time.   That presumption is certainly true for all the events we have been witnessing in the Middle East during the past few years. […]

The Israeli-Hamas Cease-Fire Negotiations: Real-Time Middle Eastern Politicking that American can Learn From

    The political and diplomatic negotiations leading up to the announcement of each Israeli-Hamas cease-fire were among the most fascinating and revealing political exercises in recent memory.   However, to paraphrase a man much wiser than me, never in the course of human endeavour has so much nonsense, with so few insights, been said […]

The Israeli-Hamas War–An Interim Assessment

  Israel is now at a crossroads in its war with Hamas. If there is no cease-fire by the time that the IDF finishes demolishing the tunnels that it has found leading into Israel (expected to take about five more days unless new tunnels are found), the government will have to take one of three […]

No Israeli-Hamas Cease-Fire Is In The Offing

    A search is underway to find a mediator capable of arranging a cease-fire between Israel and Gaza. Hamas is reported by everyone in the know to be desperately seeking a suitable candidate. However, all the names mentioned so far have been considered unacceptable by either the Israelis or the Gazans.   I use […]

Questions the Kerry Initiative Never Asked and Never Answered

In recent months, I have spent a great deal of time and effort tracking the latest attempt by the Americans to mediate a resolution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. In my discussion about the failure of that effort last month I was highly critical about how the Americans had gone about the job of mediating the […]

Why American Mediation in the Middle East Fails So Consistently

I now feel as though I am in much the same position that I was in three years ago. At that time, as a result of the revolts taking place in the Arab countries, the newspapers and news programmes were awash with breathlessly-written stories about breaking events. The same situation seems to be underway at […]

Kerry’s Peace Inititive

Much has been said about John Kerry’s peace initiative; and much of that has been very pessimistic. But no matter what comes of his peacemaking attempts, he has already done Israelis a great service.   Most Israelis at this moment are at the beach or dreaming of being at the beach. Another big chunk of […]