Israel is haunted by the specter of Palestinian attack tunnels. During Operation Protective Edge, the 50-day Gaza war in the summer of 2014, the Israeli army found and destroyed 34 such tunnels, which the Palestinians regard as a strategic weapon in the face of Israel’s overwhelming military superiority. Israel’s search-and-destroy mission took place after the Israeli […]
Israel and the Palestinians should create a new template to resolve their dispute, says Israeli analyst Yossi Alpher. Both sides, having failed to achieve peace through protracted negotiations, must build a new framework for bilateral talks. If they fail to do so, he warned, they will find themselves on a “slippery slope” toward a one-state […]
Benjamin Netanyahu is a big proponent of “economic peace” with the Palestinians. In 2009, shortly after becoming Israel’s prime minister for the second time, he talked about the need to develop the Palestinian economy in the West Bank, claiming that job creation would benefit both parties. He formed a special committee to improve the Palestinians’ […]
In the wake of this week’s terrorist attacks in Brussels, for which Islamic State claimed responsibility, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu pointed out, quite correctly, that the international community is now engaged in “a global war against terror.” Having made this pertinent observation, Netanyahu careened off course by making a causal link between Islamic State […]
It goes without saying that a peaceful resolution of the Arab-Israeli dispute will be fiendishly difficult to achieve unless both sides are psychologically prepared to make meaningful compromises. Israel must accustom itself to the idea that its occupation of the West Bank is unsustainable and counter-productive. How can there be peace when the Palestinians are […]
Islamic State and its 34 affiliates have launched terrorist attacks in countries ranging from France to Turkey, but the Sunni jihadist organization has yet to strike one of its arch enemies, Israel. It seems strange that IS, based in Iraq and Syria, has not targeted Israel, the object of hatred and revulsion in the Muslim world. […]
Much to its credit, the International Criminal Court in The Hague has set an important precedent, having laid charges against a jihadist accused of destroying historic properties in a legendary African town on the edge of the Sahara desert. It’s the first time the ICC has addressed the issue of cultural destruction as a war […]
Current efforts by the United States and Russia to achieve a “cessation of hostilities” in Syria’s five-year-old civil war hang by a thread. Periodic clashes are still breaking out. Two of the major combatants, Islamic State and the Al-Nusra Front, have been excluded from the partial ceasefire and presumably will keep on fighting. The uncertainty […]
Reformers and middle-of-the-road conservatives in Iran have won majorities in parliament and the Assembly of Experts, the body which selects Iran’s supreme leader. But it’s doubtful whether their victories will soften Tehran’s hardline policies, particularly as they relate to Israel. Iranians who back the presidency of Hassan Rouhani — an Iranian-style pragmatist who seeks engagement […]
The Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement, dedicated to the proposition that Israel’s existence is illegitimate, has achieved a string of successes since its founding eleven years ago. It’s no longer a marginal group in the shadows struggling for recognition. Created by a coalition of non-governmental Palestinian organizations, it draws inspiration and strength from a BDS […]