Russia, backed by China, vetoed a United Nations Security Council resolution on May 22 that would have empowered the International Criminal Court in The Hague to investigate the terrible contagion of war crimes in Syria. This was Russia’s fourth veto of a Security Council resolution dealing with the Syrian civil war, which broke out three […]
Menachem Begin, the prime minister of Israel from 1977 to 1983, was a man of war and a man of peace, but above all else, he was an ideologue who stuck steadfastly to his beliefs. A Zionist Revisionist in the mould of his hero, Vladimir Jabotinsky, Begin devoted himself, body and soul, to the attainment […]
Mahmoud Abbas, the president of the Palestinian Authority, faces a May 28 deadline to form what has almost always eluded the Palestinian movement — a national unity government that can speak with one voice, particularly with respect to Israel. It’s a daunting challenge, since the Palestinians have only once capitalized on this opportunity. In March […]
It was indeed a “sad day” for Israel, as Ehud Olmert himself murmured after a judge in Tel Aviv’s district court sentenced him to six years imprisonment on charges of corruption. Olmert now has the dubious distinction of being the first former Israeli prime minister to be saddled with the indignity of a criminal record. […]
As Syrians slaughter each other in an increasingly vicious civil war whose death toll now exceeds 150,000 and whose outcome is still uncertain, Israel is straining to remain aloof from that conflict. Israel’s policy of neutrality was succinctly summed up by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu last June: “Israel is not interested in intervening, as long […]
To no one’s surprise, the peace talks between Israel and the Palestinian Authority are dead in the water, having expired on April 29, and the prospects for reviving them in a meaningful fashion are extremely slim, if non-existent. At this point, it’s worth asking two relevant questions: Was it all a waste of time? Was […]
Mohammed Dajani, a professor at Al Quds University in eastern Jerusalem, is the kind of Palestinian the Palestinians need more of. Once a flaming radical, he’s now a pragmatist who supports a two-state solution to defuse the Arab-Israeli conflict and espouses such eternal and precious values as reconciliation and dialogue. Driven by these laudable ideas, […]
Let’s be realistic. The American-brokered Middle East peace talks, revived late last July by U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry amid an aura of cautious optimism, are as good as dead, having crumbled more than three weeks before the April 29 expiry date. The talks had been faltering long before they broke down at […]
Moshe Yaalon, Israel’s hawkish defence minister, needs a lesson or two in diplomacy, if not common sense. In the past few weeks, Yaalon, one of the most senior officials in the Israeli government, has made disparaging comments about Israel’s chief ally and benefactor, the United States. Yaalon fired off his first fusillade recently when he […]
Concerned by the serious strains clouding its strategic relationship with Saudi Arabia, the United States is striving to patch up yawning differences with its oil-rich Arab ally over key regional issues. Late last week, U.S. President Barack Obama visited Riyadh, the Saudi capital, in an attempt to improve relations. It was his second trip to […]