NewsTrust - Palestine - Most Recent Stories: Opinion (Mainstream)

The coming U.N. debacle

Tue, 20 Sep 2011 00:00:00 -0700

Los Angeles Times - By Yossi Klein Halevi, Los Angeles Times - Sep. 20 - The coming U.N. debacle

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Jimmy Carter: 'We never dropped a bomb. We never fired a bullet. We never went to war'

Sun, 11 Sep 2011 00:00:00 -0700

The Guardian - By Carole Cadwalladr - Sep. 11 - He may live a modest life in a one-horse town, but Jimmy Carter, now 86, retains his global vision. And 30 years after leaving the White House, the peanut farmer turned president is still a man on mission. In Plains, Georgia, we found the 39th US president full of energy… and determined to make a difference Where does Jimmy Carter live? Well, close your eyes and imagine the kind of house an ex-president of the United States might live in. The sort of residence befitting the former leader of the most powerful nation on earth. Got it? Right, now scrub that clean from your mind and instead imagine the sort of house where a moderately successful junior accountant and his family might live. It's what in America is called a "ranch house", or, as we'd say, "a bungalow". There are no porticoes. No columns. No sweeping lawns. There's just a small brick single-storey structure that Jimmy and his wife, Rosalynn, built on Woodland Drive back in 1961 when he was a peanut farmer and she was a peanut ...

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U.S. hits Israel on settlements

Tue, 09 Aug 2011 13:25:22 -0700

The Politico - By Mackenzie Weinger - Aug. 09 - The State Department rebukes Israel's "unilateral actions" in the the area of East Jerusalem.

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From a Saudi prince, tough talk on America’s favoritism toward Israel

Tue, 14 Jun 2011 00:00:00 -0700

Washington Post - By Richard Cohen - Jun. 14 (Opinion) - He [Saudi Prince Turki al-Faisal} is also angry as hell, and he lets America have it. He starts by citing what he calls President Obama’s “controversial speech last month, admonishing Arab governments to embrace democracy and provide freedom to their populations.” Saudi Arabia, he wrote, heard what Obama said and took it “seriously,” and he noted, of course, that Obama had not demanded the same rights for Palestinians under Israeli occupation. Point taken.

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Israel Prickles Over Obama's Mideast Proposal

Sat, 21 May 2011 00:00:00 -0700

NPR - By Scott Simon, Marc Lynch - May. 21 (Interview) - President Obama's speech on Middle East issues earlier this week drew a lukewarm response from Israel; Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu quickly rejected some of the president's proposals. Is there any common ground left on which the U.S. and Israel can build a dialogue? Host Scott Simon speaks with Dr. Marc Lynch, director of the Institute for Middle East Studies and of the Project on Middle East Political Science at George Washington University.

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Israel and Palestine: Everyone will be impressed

Sun, 15 May 2011 00:00:00 -0700

Economist - May. 15 (Opinion) - It's mildly irritating when highly placed officials insist on anonymity before offering their comments, and then it's often hilarious when the comments they offer turn out to be boss-pleasing milquetoast platitudes that couldn't possibly have offended anyone if they'd offered them on the record. But here's a rare triple whammy from Ha'aretz: a comment offered by an official on condition of anonymity that's not only a boss-pleasing milquetoast platitude, but also strikes any rational listener as glaringly false.

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The Palestinian narrative has won

Thu, 24 Mar 2011 00:00:00 -0700

Haaretz - By Oudeh Basharat - Mar. 24 (Opinion) - When the Knesset approves legislation banning the Nakba commemoration, it seems surreal. Yet, there is also something good in this commotion. At least, there's no denial of the Nakba.

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Palin slams Obama's actions in Libya, Israel

Thu, 24 Mar 2011 04:18:00 -0700

CBS News - Mar. 24 - Sarah Palin appeared on Fox News' "On the Record" with Greta Van Susteren in Naples, Fla., slamming President Obama on many issues, ranging from his involvement in Israel's zoning issue to his action in Libya. For

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In Lebanon, Hezbollah is watching, and waiting out, the Arab uprisings

Mon, 28 Feb 2011 00:00:00 -0800

Washington Post - By David Ignatius - Feb. 28 (Opinion) - Hezbollah appears to realize that the revolt sweeping the Middle East has subtly changed the game for them. Officials see the Arab world moving into a more democratic and pluralistic politics with the fall of regimes in Tunisia, Egypt and perhaps Libya. In this new environment, Hezbollah doesn't want to be seen as a sectarian militia or a wrecker, but as a democratic partner (albeit a potent one that has thousands of missiles pointed at Israel).

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Christians for Fair Witness on the Middle East Publishes a Report on the Right of Return in the 'Palestine Papers'

Wed, 23 Feb 2011 00:00:00 -0800

PR Newswire - By Christians for Fair Witness on the Middle East - Feb. 23 (Comment) - Earlier this year Al Jazeera released nearly 1,700 files of Palestinian Authority documents memorializing a decade of Israeli/Palestinian peace talks.

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Israeli media 'fears' the new Egypt

Mon, 21 Feb 2011 00:00:00 -0800

Aljazeera - By Neve Gordon - Feb. 21 (Opinion) - Over the past three weeks the Israeli media has been extremely interested in Egypt. During the climatic days of the unprecedented demonstrations, television news programmes spent most of their airtime covering the protests, while the daily papers dedicated half the news and opinion pages to the unfolding events. Rather than excitement at watching history in the making, however, the dominant attitude here, particularly on television, was of anxiety-- a sense that the developments in Egypt were inimical to Israel's interests. Egypt's revolution, in other words, was bad news.

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Bullying the Palestinians

Fri, 18 Feb 2011 00:00:00 -0800

Aljazeera - By M.J. Rosenberg - Feb. 18 (Opinion) - It appears that US dealings with the Palestinians have entered a new phase: Bullying. On Thursday, President Barack Obama telephoned Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian president, to urge him to block a UN Security Council resolution condemning settlements. Obama pressed very hard during the 50 minute call, so hard that Abbas felt constrained to agree to take Obama’s request to the PLO executive committee (which, not surprisingly, agreed that Abbas should not accede to Obama’s request). But what a request it is! For Palestinians, Israeli settlements are the very crux of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. After all, it is the gobbling up of the land by settlements that is likely to prevent a Palestinian state from ever coming into being.

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These concrete constraints have quashed any hope of peace

Fri, 17 Dec 2010 00:00:00 -0800

The Guardian - By Hussein Agha, Robert Malley - Dec. 17 (Opinion) - Yet another impasse is reached in Israeli-Palestinian negotiations – is peace now simply unattainable? After weeks of fruitless endeavour, the United States has finally – and wisely – given up on its efforts to secure a renewed freeze on Israeli settlement construction in order to relaunch direct Israeli-Palestinian negotiations. Yet, amid speculation over how Israelis and Palestinians might now resume their talks, a reality is taking hold: the point is fast approaching where negotiations between the two will be, for all practical purposes and for the foreseeable future, over. As emissaries are dispatched and ideas explored, discussions could well carry on. But they will have lost all life, energy or sense of purpose. Israeli prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu might not have been wholeheartedly committed to a peace deal with the Palestinians, but upon taking office several factors tugged him in that direction. He worried about US and regional pressure; he had concerns about his own public ...

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ICC: Can PA complain of crimes on 'Palestinian territory'?

Thu, 21 Oct 2010 00:00:00 -0700

Jerusalem Post - By Dan Izenberg - Oct. 21 (Interview) - The International Criminal Court in The Hague on Wednesday held a debate on whether or not to accept a declaration by the Palestinian Authority expressing its readiness to recognize ICC jurisdiction over “the territory of Palestine,” a decision which could impact heavily on the peace negotiations and the PA’s threat to unilaterally declare statehood.

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The undeniable Jewish state

Sat, 16 Oct 2010 20:11:08 -0700

Boston Globe - Oct. 16 - AFPThe undeniable Jewish stateBoston GlobeThe UN's http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/United_Nations_General_Assembly_Resolution_181"1947 resolution on partitioning Palestine contains no fewer than 30 ...'European Jewish communities are in serious danger'Jerusalem PostEuropean Jewish communities in grave dangerIsrael TodayThe Non-Jewish Immigrant Loyalty OathDissident VoiceMiamiHerald.com -Media Monitors Network -Catholic News Serviceall 112 news articles »

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A Jewish state or an Israeli democracy?

Tue, 05 Oct 2010 00:00:00 -0700

Haaretz - By Shlomo Sand - Oct. 05 (Opinion) - There's far too little criticism in Israel of this latest whim, which until recently was absent from Israeli diplomacy. For years, Israel struggled to be recognized by the Arab world. But in March 2002, when the Arab League and the Muslim world took up the Saudi initiative to recognize Israel within its 1967 borders, a new threat appeared: peace, which can fragment the Jewish character of the state from within, and rightfully so.

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Alice Walker and the caricatured view of Africa

Wed, 15 Sep 2010 14:05:58 -0700

Christian Science Monitor - Sep. 15 - In what she called a conversation (which was actually the 11th annual Steve Biko Memorial Lecture), Prof. Alice Walker spoke about her experiences of and in Africa. It wasn’t in that usual “Africa is a beautiful country” kind of way, but it exemplified

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The skewed Middle East peace talks | Hussein Agha and Robert Malley

Fri, 03 Sep 2010 00:00:00 -0700

The Guardian - By Hussein Agha, Robert Malley - Sep. 03 (Opinion) - Whether there?s a deal or not, the Palestinians can?t really win, while the Israelis have little to lose Israelis and Palestinians who have started peace negotiations in Washington are separated by much more than the gulf between their substantive positions. Staggering asymmetries between the two sides could seriously imperil the talks. Israeli prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu is the head of a stable state with the ability to deliver on his commitments. Celebrations of supposed institution-building notwithstanding, Palestinians have no robust central authority. Their territory is divided between the West Bank and Gaza. On their own, Palestinians would find it difficult to implement an agreement, however much they might wish to. Israel ...

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Barak to Haaretz: Israel ready to cede parts of Jerusalem in peace deal

Thu, 02 Sep 2010 00:00:00 -0700

Haaretz - By Ari Shavit - Sep. 02 (Interview) - "West Jerusalem and 12 Jewish neighborhoods that are home to 200,000 residents will be ours. The Arab neighborhoods in which close to a quarter million Palestinians live will be theirs. There will be a special regime in place along with agreed upon arrangements in the Old City, the Mount of Olives and the City of David."

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Hamas, the I.R.A. and Us

Sun, 29 Aug 2010 00:00:00 -0700

New York Times - By Ali Abunimah - Aug. 29 (Opinion) - George J. Mitchell, the United States Middle East envoy, tried to counter low expectations for renewed Israeli-Palestinian peace negotiations by harking back to his experience as a mediator in Northern Ireland. At an Aug. 20 news conference with Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, announcing the talks that will begin this week, Mr. Mitchell reminded journalists that during difficult negotiations in Northern Ireland, “We had about 700 days of failure and one day of success” — the day in 1998 that the Belfast Agreement instituting power-sharing between pro-British unionists and Irish nationalists was signed. Mr. Mitchell’s comparison is misleading at best. Success in the Irish talks was the result not just of determination and time, but also a very different United States approach to diplomacy. The conflict in Northern Ireland had been intractable for decades. Unionists backed by the British government saw any political compromise with Irish nationalists as a danger, one that would lead to a united Ireland in which a Catholic majority would dominate minority Protestant unionists. The British government also refused to deal with the Irish nationalist party Sinn Fein, despite its significant electoral mandate, because of its close ties to the Irish Republican Army, which had carried out violent acts in the United Kingdom.

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Israeli soldiers' 'trophy' pictures

Tue, 17 Aug 2010 00:00:00 -0700

The Guardian - Aug. 17 (Editorial) - Former Israeli soldier Eden Abergil's Facebook photos of her posing with Palestinian prisoners has sparked accusations that 'souvenir photos' are widespread in the army. Veterans' group Breaking the Silence has released a number of soldiers' pictures, some showing dead Palestinians

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Besieging Israel's siege

Thu, 12 Aug 2010 00:00:00 -0700

The Guardian - By Omar Barghouti - Aug. 12 (Opinion) - In just a few years the Palestinian campaign to boycott Israeli goods has become truly global Despite Israel?s siege of Gaza, and the escalating displacement in the Negev and East Jerusalem, Palestinians have some reason to celebrate. In Washington a food co-op has passed a resolution calling for a boycott of Israeli products , confirming that the boycott movement – five years old last month – has finally crossed the Atlantic. Support for the move came from prominent figures including Nobel peace laureates Desmond Tutu and Máiread Maguire , and Richard Falk, the UN?s special rapporteur on the Palestinian territories. The movement for boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) against Israel was launched in 2005, a year after the international ...

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Mr. President, Don’t Pray for Anything You Really Don’t Want

Fri, 30 Jul 2010 00:00:00 -0700

Foreign Policy - By Aaron David Miller - Jul. 30 (Opinion) - Barack Obama's administration has been lobbying Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Arab governments hard to return to direct talks with Israel for the first time in several years. That decision could be made as early as Thursday, when the Arab League meets to discuss the matter. But Obama should very careful what he wishes for.

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Its time to stop demonizing Israel

Tue, 08 Jun 2010 00:00:00 -0700

Haaretz - By Bernard-Henri Lévy - Jun. 08 (Opinion) - The flood of hypocrisy and bad faith that seems to have just been waiting across the media worldwide for the Mavi Marmara is by no means acceptable.

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Israel naval raid a folly foretold

Wed, 02 Jun 2010 00:00:00 -0700

Los Angeles Times - By David Grossman - Jun. 02 (Opinion) - How insecure, confused and panicky a country must be to act as Israel acted. With a combination of excessive military force and a fatal failure to anticipate the intensity of the reaction of those aboard the ship, it killed and wounded civilians, and did so — as if it were a band of pirates — outside Israel's territorial waters. Clearly, this assessment does not imply agreement with the motives — overt or hidden, and often malicious — of some participants in the Gaza flotilla. Not all are peace-loving humanitarians, and the declarations of some of them regarding the destruction of the state of Israel are criminal. But these facts are simply not relevant at the moment; such opinions, so far as we know, do not deserve the death penalty.

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