The Western world has reacted to the “terrorist” shooting spree in Paris with near-hysteria, immediately intensifying its own lethal violence in the Middle East.
Israel is branding as a wave of “terrorism” the continuing suicidal attacks by (...)
For French President François Hollande, the attacks in Paris on 13 November, carried out by French and Belgian citizens, changed everything.
His prior, oft-repeated mantra that “Assad must go” was consigned to the memory hole; defeating and (...)
Since the current upsurge of violence in Israel and occupied Palestine began, numerous foreign leaders, as well as the UN Security Council, have cited the urgent need to restore “calm”. It is not calm — an euphemism for Palestinian submission — that (...)
The 48th anniversary of Israel's “pre-emptive” attack on Egypt was marked on 5 June. It was on that date that Israel began the fateful “Six-Day War”, an act of aggression that allowed the Zionist movement to complete its conquest of historic (...)
The European Parliament, after a late compromise in pursuit of consensus, passed on 17 December by a vote of 498 to 88 with 111 abstentions a resolution stating that it “supports in principle recognition of Palestinian statehood and the two-state (...)
Naftali Bennett is Israel's minister of economy and the leader of the Jewish Home Party, a major component of the current Israeli government. He is widely seen as a potential successor to Binyamin Netanyahu as prime minister after the next Israeli (...)
On 12 October, at a donor conference in Cairo, participants pledged $5.4 billion towards the reconstruction of Gaza. However, numerous participants noted that repeatedly paying to reconstruct what has been destroyed — and is likely to be destroyed (...)
After the breakdown in the six-day “pause” to permit negotiations on a long-term Israeli-Palestinian ceasefire, and the resumption of Israel's onslaught against the caged people of Gaza, concerned people everywhere are wondering how the conflicting (...)
Now that the American-monopolised “peace process” has expired, Europe should seize the initiative and try to do something useful for Israelis, Palestinians and peace.
If European states still believe that a decent “two-state solution” is (...)
When, in response to the threat of potential Palestinian reconciliation and unity, the Israeli government suspended “negotiations” with the Palestine Liberation Organisation on 24 April (five days before they were due to terminate in any event), (...)
News reports continue to suggest that one of the primary roadblocks to any agreement in the current round of Israeli-Palestinian negotiations is the understandable Palestinian refusal to accept the Israeli demand that Palestine explicitly recognise (...)
In an opinion article entitled “Israel Should Annul the Oslo Accords” which was published on 21 September in The New York Times, Danny Danon, Israel's deputy defence minister, offered his own vision (presumably not radically inconsistent with that (...)
On July 30, after preliminary talks about talks in Washington, Secretary of State John Kerry announced that “sustained, continuous and substantive negotiations” between Israelis and Palestinians “to achieve a final status agreement” would commence (...)
On 19 July, the European Union (EU) published a binding directive, to be effective from 1 January 2014, which according to the Israeli newspaper Haaretz was described by a senior Israeli official as an “earthquake”.
This directive forbids any form (...)
An article published on 4 April by the leading Israeli newspaper Haaretz reported that “President Mahmoud Abbas is to suspend all unilateral measures vis-à-vis the United Nations agencies to give US Secretary of State John Kerry time to jump-start a (...)
Words matter. They shape perceptions and understanding, both of past and present events and of future possibilities, and thereby can shape future events.
The UN General Assembly's vote of 29 November overwhelmingly recognising Palestine's “state (...)
On 3 January, Mahmoud Abbas, acting in his capacities as president of the State of Palestine and chairman of the Executive Committee of the Palestine Liberation Organisation, signed “Decree No 1 for the year 2013.” While he did so with minimal (...)
The “no” votes were cast by Israel, the United States, Canada, the Czech Republic, the Marshall Islands, Micronesia, Nauru, Palau and Panama.
The Marshall Islands, Micronesia and Palau, all former components of the US Trust Territory of the Pacific (...)
There is much that can be done to follow up on Palestine's bid for UN membership, asserts John Whitbeck* in his open letter
Dear President Abbas,
There was visible and audible euphoria at the UN General Assembly in September when you announced (...)
The upcoming vote on Palestine at the UN is actually a dramatic moment, marvels John Whitbeck*
The number of UN member states extending diplomatic recognition to the State of Palestine has now risen to 131, leaving only 62 UN member states on the (...)
While many questions relating to the State of Palestine's imminent application for UN membership are being raised and vigorously debated, one relevant question has not been. That question is how American national interests would be harmed if (...)
Calling on the UN to recognise Palestine is a win-win for the Palestinians. If the US abstains, it is a step backward for Israel. If it vetoes, it loses its credibility as an honest broker, writes John Whitbeck*
While many questions relating to the (...)
More states recognise the state of Palestine than an independent Kosovo, but while the latter is unquestioned by the Western media, the former is deemed an aspiration, writes John Whitbeck*
On 7 January, Chile extended diplomatic recognition to the (...)
Unless our language equates to reality and can conform to the dictates of justice, there will be no peace possible from talks or negotiations, writes John Whitbeck*
The recent passage by Israel's Knesset of a law requiring either a two-thirds (...)
Israelis must now decide which they prefer: the end of the Israeli occupation and a new state in its place, or a single bi-national democracy shared with Palestinians, writes John Whitbeck*
The US government has now announced that direct (...)