November 5, 2009

The Palestinians are optimistic about comments made by American officials in recent days. Palestinians sources told Ynet on Wednesday that the Americans said Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has committed to halt construction in settlements.

The sources said that despite the Palestinians' dissatisfaction with US Secretary of State Hilary Clinton's public support of Israel on settlement construction, Netanyahu has officially committed to a freeze.

New Jewish neighbors raise spectre of eviction for Sheikh Jarrah residents

Nearly two-dozen neighbors gathered inside a home on Othman Bin Afan Street in the east Jerusalem neighborhood of Sheikh Jarrah Wednesday afternoon, some 24 hours after a group of Jews had entered the front section of the home to carry out renovations.

The property - the back section of which is home to 13 members of the al-Kurd family - was thrust into the spotlight on Tuesday as the latest in a series of Sheikh Jarrah properties embroiled in legal battles over ownership claims, and neighborhood residents who had gathered there on Wednesday had little else on their mind.

U.S. Eases Pressure on Israel, Leans On Palestinians

Relations between Washington and Jerusalem are warming, as months-long tensions over West Bank settlements and other issues have gradually eased.

Israeli officials and Jewish communal leaders point to a series of events, including Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton’s praise of Israel’s movement on the settlement issue, and President Obama’s upcoming speech at the General Assembly of Jewish Federations of North America, as signs of softening in the administration’s approach toward the government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

On Campus, a Divide Over ‘Pro-Israel’

When an Israeli student at Carleton College complained that the school’s Jewish organization had made no official statement recognizing Israel’s right to exist, Jewish student leaders at the small liberal arts school in Minnesota found themselves stuck between two poles. They wanted to make the Israeli student feel comfortable, but they didn’t want didn’t want to alienate community members by presenting them with deep misgivings about the Jewish state.

Obama must deliver on his potential

The first nine months of US President Barack Obama's tenure at the White House have been pregnant with thought-provoking ideas and commendable aspirations aimed at improving the tarnished US image and bringing the world closer together in every way possible — especially in the Middle East, where an unresolved Arab-Israeli conflict has been simmering for more than 60 years.

But there is increasing fear in Europe and the Arab world that Obama may fail to deliver on his potential.

Conflicting, wavering positions that do not help peace

As first lady of the United States, Hillary Clinton was the darling of Palestinians and Arabs when late in Bill Clinton’s term she uttered the hot button word: Palestine. Since then, she has been swinging depending on the political winds.

As a senator for the state of New York, she became a staunch Israeli supporter, standing by Israel whether justifiably or not. To win the US presidency, she continued this pro-Israel stance, but as secretary of state in the Obama administration, she flipped back.

'Totally divorced from reality'

The most outrageous thing about US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s statement that Israel is making an “unprecedented” commitment to restrict colonisation activity in the West Bank is its total divorce from reality.

One-state solution

This first critical study of the “one-state” agenda comes at a time when Palestine has witnessed no real progress on the ground and an atmosphere of hopelessness and pessimism is spreading in the region.

No obvious successor: An interview with Said Zeidani

bitterlemons: In the past week we've twice heard reports that Mahmoud Abbas is considering not running for re-election. How serious do you think this is?

Zeidani: As far as Abu Mazen [Abbas] personally is concerned, I don't think he is interested in another term. He has expressed his desire to step down and I think he is sincere. The question is whether he will be allowed by his own Fateh faction to do so. I think there will be pressure on him to stay and run for another term.

bitterlemons: Why?

Where things stand in the Middle East after Sec. Clinton's not-so-excellent adventure

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton went to the Middle East and inadvertently created yet another crisis for the Obama peace initiative. It's not so much that she badly mishandled everything -- although that argument could certainly be made -- it's more that I think her difficulties demonstrate how complicated and in some practical senses almost impossible the American diplomatic task at hand really is.

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