September 10, 2012

BEIRUT: Mohammad Twieh, an 18-year-old resident of Nahr al-Bared refugee camp, was told as a child he would not survive to adulthood without a liver transplant by 2007.

News Analysis: Gaza Salafi militants attempt to drag Hamas into war with Israel

GAZA, Sept. 9 (Xinhua) -- Despite a calm agreement mediated by Egypt between Israel and the Islamic Hamas movement, which rules the Gaza Strip, extremist Islamic Salafi Jihad (Holy War) militants haven't stopped firing rockets from the enclave at southern Israel in an attempt to drag Hamas into a war with Israel.

Minor militant groups, mainly the Salafis, never recognized the deal brokered in early 2009 and kept firing rockets at Israel until now.

News Analysis: Palestinians' second UN bid a cry for economic aid

JERUSALEM, Sept. 9 (Xinhua) -- Palestinian National Authority ( PNA) President Mahmoud Abbas on Saturday announced that he will -- once again -- seek United Nations recognition for Palestine as a non-member state.

Last year, Abbas asked the UN to upgrade the status of Palestine from non-member entity to non-member state, and to recognize it as a state under occupation along the post-1967 war lines.

Someone tell the Palestinians: It's the occupation, stupid!

“Geniuses,” I said to myself when dozens of trucks and taxis blocked traffic in the heart of Hebron last Wednesday in protest against the price hikes. “Geniuses,” I continued to think when four hours later I passed by the same place, and heard that other demonstrators had set fire to an effigy of Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Salam Fayyad.

Great year for settlers

I admit that the recent evacuation of the Migron outpost [23] in the West Bank did not upset me too much. It was a sad day for those who support the settlement enterprise, and maybe for any Israeli with some sense of compassion, but it was not a major disaster. Comparing it to the uprooting of Yamit or the disengagement from Gaza is ridiculous.

‘Low Stool,’ the sequel

Hollywood always recycles successful movies. Thus we had the privilege of seeing “The Godfather 2” and “Superman 2,” as well as many others that were not always such wonderful productions. In our region, too, they have learned to recycle successes, and sometimes also failures. So we got the Second Intifada and the Second Lebanon War.

But now we seem to have done even better: Someone in the Israeli government has decided to recycle the “Low Stool” and we have now witnessed the horrifying turn of events in “Low Stool 2.”

The dwarfs of Oslo

In 1993, the Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to two African leaders: Nelson Mandela and Frederik Willem de Klerk. The award went to them for bringing to an end the apartheid regime in South Africa by peaceful means. These two leaders were certainly deserving of the prestigious prize.

Obama or Romney? Makes little difference for Israel

The conventions are finally over.  We have listened to the speeches, seen the videos, and read the platforms.  And as American Jews committed to the Jewish state, we can now say with confidence:  It makes very little difference to Israel who wins this election.

There is a single American foreign policy on Israel, embraced by the two major parties, with some differences in style but very modest differences in substance.

Gaza: an early warning of disaster

The international system is often accused of failing to give adequate early warning; of being myopic and not furnishing the appropriate powers with data and analysis that would allow an effective, timely response to predictable disasters. With the recent publication of the report, Gaza in 2020: a Liveable Place? [28], it would be hard to level these accusations at the UN country team in the occupied Palestinian territory [29].

UN recognition is best course for Palestinians

The Palestinian Authority is at a crossroads, although many will expect President Mahmoud Abbas to steer along the same deadend track. On Saturday, Mr Abbas repeated a promise to return to the United Nations to press for recognition of Palestinian statehood; and yesterday, the PA proposed renegotiating the Paris Protocols, which govern its economic arrangements with Israel.

Love, bankruptcy and buffoonery in our region

The Iranian President told his Palestinian counterpart that he loves the Palestinians, prompting Abbas to reply: “For God’s sake, love us all”, i.e. not just Hamas. But it is hard for Ahmadinejad to do that, for Iran and its adherers will not be satisfied with the Palestinians until they are a game in their hands, like Hamas, Hezbollah and al-Assad.

A Dream Not Deferred

Dror Etkes should have been pleased. Six years ago, the 44-year-old Israeli peace activist asked Israel’s High Court of Justice to intervene in the case of a Jewish settlement outpost in the West Bank built on Palestinian farmland. Etkes, who spends much of his time fighting settlement expansion, thought the Migron outpost could be a test case. But when the court finally ordered Israeli authorities to evict the settlement’s 50 families last week, he couldn’t bring himself to celebrate.

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