September 18, 2012

UNITED NATIONS, Sept. 17 (Xinhua) -- The UN Special Coordinator for the Peace Process in the Middle East Robert Serry on Monday said a two-state solution to the ongoing Israel-Palestine conflict is at risk.

"The lack of progress between Israelis and Palestinians on the political track and the continuing conflict and occupation put at risk the viability of the two-state solution," said Serry in a briefing to the Security Council on the situation in the Middle East.

Study of anti-Semitic, anti-Muslim bias on UC campuses stirs debate

The Israeli-Palestinian conflict is again extending its reach onto University of California campuses, raising questions about the limits of free speech and how welcome Jewish and Muslim students feel at their schools.

Gaza-based poet remembers Sabra and Shatila massacre

GAZA CITY (Ma'an) -- Rihab Kanaan bursts into tears while talking to Ma'an's reporter in Gaza about the trauma she suffered after losing her son and dozens of family members in the notorious Tel al-Zaatar and Sabra and Shatila massacres during Lebanon's civil war.

The Gaza-based poet says the Palestinian leadership has forgotten about the Sabra and Shatila massacre in which an estimated 800-3,000 Palestinian civilians were killed by Lebanese Christian militias over a three day period on September 16, 1982.

Without Medals, With Pride

AFAH, Gaza, Sep 14 2012 (IPS) - The car’s engine revs, wheels spinning in vain, as it sinks deeper into the sandy lane near Rafah, southern Gaza. Members of the Palestinian Paralympic Committee (PPC) are en route to welcome Palestine’s two Paralympic contenders, Mohammed Fanouna and Khamis Zaqut, home from the 2012 London Paralympic Games.

Zaqut and Fanouna, both repeat medal winners in prior Paralympic, Arab, and Asian Games, came fourth and ninth respectively in their events in London 2012.

Palestinians protest anti-Islam film

RAMALLAH, Palestinian Territories — Hundreds of Palestinians on Monday staged a peaceful protest in Ramallah against an anti-Islam film that has sparked violent demonstrations in the Muslim world.

Participants of the sit-in, organised by the Palestinian Authority's Waqf (religious endowment) and held outside its offices, held signs saying "We are against those who oppose you Mohammed" and "Do not touch our Prophet."

Speaking at the event, Waqf minister Mahmoud Habbash called on the United States to remove the film and apologise for it.

Investor creates Palestinian facts on the ground

Over the years, Palestinians have learnt to rue the sight of cranes and bulldozers going about their work on a West Bank hilltop. For more than four decades, such machinery has usually heralded the construction of a new Jewish settlement on occupied Palestinian land – and delivered a fresh blow to Palestinian hopes for an independent and viable state.

Mahmoud Abbas’s U.N. gambit

ONE OF THE winners in last week’s protests outside U.S. embassies in the Middle East was Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. Before the eruption of outrage over an anti-Muslim film, Mr. Abbas and Prime Minister Salam Fayyad had faced a week of demonstrations and strikes in the West Bank that some were starting to compare to the revolts against other autocratic Arab rulers. Thanks to the eruption of anti-Americanism and Mr. Fayyad’s timely repeal of several recent price and tax increases, the opposition movement appears to have subsided for now. But one way or another, Mr.

In Israel, we speak Republican

In January 2009, on the eve of the Israeli general elections, and before the newly elected U.S. president, Barack Obama, was sworn in, the leading candidate for the premiership, Benjamin Netanyahu, met with his then-adviser and former consul general in New York, Alon Pinkas. Netanyahu asked Pinkas, who was close to the leaders of the Democratic Party, to help him build a bridge to the new administration.

Exaggerated US-Israel Tensions

If you believe the Israeli and some of the US press, American-Israeli relations are at their lowest point ever. The New York Times accuses Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of “trying to browbeat President Obama into a pre-emptive strike (on Iran).” Israeli press this week ran banner headlines trumpeting the rift.

What Would Israel Do Without Mahmoud Abbas?

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has called Israel’s President Shimon Peres to offer him Rosh Hashanah greetings.

“Happy holiday and a Happy New Year to you and the entire Israeli nation,” Abbas said.. Well, perhaps he meant all of Israel with one exception.

At the same time as the phone call from Ramallah came in at Peres’ residence, Foreign Minister Avigdor Liberman had his team working on his attempt at character assassination of Abbas.

Red Lines over Iran

Even with all the turmoil in the Middle East, foreign policy is unlikely to have a decisive impact on the outcome of the U.S. presidential election. But the outcome of the presidential election will have a profound impact on U.S. foreign policy. Nowhere is that more consequential than the debate over whether, when, and with whom we go to war against Iran.

Oh, Mitt.....

So yesterday David Corn at Mother Jones made some waves when he released a video of Mitt Romney locking up the Ayn Rand Institute's vote explaining that he had no chance of winning the  "47 percent who are with him, who are dependent upon government."

Well, this morning, the foreign policy shoe dropped from the Romney video.  Here's the excerpt of Romney musing about the two-state situation for Israel and Palestine: 

A Hollow Call For "Justice"

Ben Cohen's response to my recent piece systematically proves every point I make about Israel's cynical new campaign to raise the issue of Jewish refugees. In particular he demonstrates that this is not about defending the rights of Jewish refugees, since no substantive demands on their behalf are made, but simply about using them to try to obliterate the claims of Palestinians. It's one of the oddest cries for "justice" I've ever encountered, since it seeks merely to deny the claims of others.

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