Judging by Israel’s discovery and destruction of yet another Palestinian attack tunnel recently, Hamas is still very much in the business of war. The tunnel, which started in the Gaza Strip and penetrated about 200 meters into Israeli territory, was the 15th destroyed by the Israeli army in the past year. Hamas, which has ruled Gaza […]
Israel’s ambassador to the United States, Ron Dermer, has painted himself into a corner, revealing himself as an ultra-partisan political operative. Since his appointment in 2013, he has steadfastly refused to meet the leaders of progressive Jewish organizations, notably J Street, the New Israel Fund and Americans for Peace Now. All of them are critical […]
Much to the detriment of Israelis and Palestinian Arabs, the United States has frozen a most valuable program designed to promote mutual tolerance, trust and understanding, build relationships across ethnic, religious and political boundaries, and address common problems. These are crucially important concepts in a turbulent region like the Middle East, where intolerance and fanaticism […]
Israel’s honeymoon with Russia has definitely cooled since a deadly incident in the skies over Syria on September 17. On that day, Israeli jets bombed a weapons facility in the coastal city Latakia, prompting Syrian air defence units to accidentally shoot down a Russian Ilyushin reconnaissance plane with 15 servicemen abroad. The Russian government immediately blamed […]
Egypt, Qatar and the United Nations have been trying to broker a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, but without success so far. In line with its efforts to pacify the usually tense Gaza Strip border region, Egypt has also been striving to persuade the Palestinian Authority and Hamas to reconcile after years of mutual acrimony. […]
It’s safe to say that Israel intends to vigorously enforce its “red lines” in Syria, despite a recent upsurge of tension with Russia, Syria’s chief ally and protector. In recent days, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has made it crystal clear that Israel will use force if necessary to achieve four overlapping strategic goals in Syria. […]
Twenty five years after it was signed in Washington, D.C. by Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and Palestine Liberation Organization Chairman Yasser Arafat, the Oslo peace accord has crumbled and ground to a complete halt. Widely regarded as a diplomatic breakthrough signifying the beginning of the end of Israel’s protracted conflict with the Palestinians, it aroused great […]
In what can only be described as a petty act of petulance, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu recently recalled Israel’s ambassador in Paraguay and closed the Israeli embassy in Asuncion. He made these rash decisions after Paraguay, in a dramatic reversal, moved its embassy in Jerusalem back to Tel Aviv. “Israel views with the utmost gravity the […]
U.S. President Donald Trump’s much-vaunted Middle East peace plan, the “ultimate deal” to resolve Israel’s protracted conflict with the Palestinians, was supposed to be unveiled this summer. Keenly aware of this timeline, Trump’s representatives in charge of the peace process, Jared Kushner and Jason Greenblatt, began distributing a draft of the proposal. They may have […]
The United States has altered its view of the Palestinian refugee problem, which goes to the core of Israel’s protracted, often bloody conflict with the Palestinians. The shift marks a significant break with U.S. policy and may yet affect ordinary Palestinians and the willingness of the Palestinian Authority to engage in peace talks with Israel. […]