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. […]
Thirty one years ago, on a bright sunny afternoon in Tel Aviv during the first week of December and only days before the first Palestinian uprising broke out, I found myself in the presence of one of Israel’s most iconoclastic and idealistic figures, Uri Avnery. Avnery, who died on August 20 at the age of […]
Can the nearly four-decade-long enmity between the United States and Iran be eased? That’s the big question following U.S. President Donald Trump’s recent announcement of his willingness to confer with Iran’s leaders. “I would certainly meet with Iran if they’re ready to meet,” he said during a White House press conference at the end of […]
Iran’s brash and threatening attempt to establish a military foothold in Syria, its most important Arab ally, has concentrated minds in world capitals. In recent weeks, this topic has topped the agenda in high-level talks between Israel and Russia, Iran and Russia and the United States and Russia. It’s clearly one of the most important unresolved […]