Three million hostages
The title of this article, “Three million hostages,” may surprise some, but this is actually what has happened to the Palestinians living in the West Bank and Gaza during the past few weeks. These Palestinians have become prisoners in their own country. Movement between cities and towns was completely forbidden, as was the movement across […]
Withdraw from Netzarim
The year was 1994, long after the Rabin-Arafat handshake on the White House lawn. The memorandum of understanding between Israel and the PLO had been signed and the details of the areas from which Israel was to withdraw were known. A Palestinian lawyer decided to use politics rather than law to solve his clients’ problems. […]
Israel Must Submit to a Multinational Investigation
There are plenty of reasons why Palestinians insist on the need for an independent inquiry into the violence of the past two weeks that has resulted in the killing of more than 80 civilian Palestinians, many of them children. The United States should support this request, which will surely calm the situation on the ground. […]
Image and reality
The violence in and around Al Aqsa mosque last Thursday and Friday reminded me of the incident 10 years ago (on Oct. 8) when Israeli soldiers killed 17 Palestinians on the compound of Al Haram al Sharif. I remember that incident 10 years ago because it took place one day after the birth of my […]
Indyk should not come back
Diplomacy is a tricky business. Governments and foreign service departments try very hard to keep their diplomats moving from one post to the other so that they don’t get too attached to one country. The idea being that if a diplomat gets too attached to a single country his or her political vision might get […]
Time for peace
The date was Dec. 13, 1993, exactly three months after the signing of the Memorandum of Understanding between Israel and the PLO on the White House lawn. We were dispatched to Gaza to gauge Palestinian reactions to the passing of this date without any change on the ground. Palestinians had high expectations that on this […]
Full rights until deal is delivered
For a long time two people, let us call them Ahmad and Shlomo have had a financial dispute. Shlomo owes Ahmad $100,000 and he has been refusing to pay it back despite Ahmad’s possession of a binding contract to the effect of his rights to this amount. The dispute has caused trouble for both men. […]
Freedom of expression? Sometimes
How does one evaluate the level of the freedom of expression in any country? Is it by the existence of an independent media? Is it by the absence of censorship? What about self-censorship? Is the presence of private radio and television a sign of freedom of expression? What about laws? Is the presence of a […]
Dangerous distractions
The botched military operation in the Palestinian village of Assira Shamali near Nablus should never have happened. Neither should the killing a week earlier of the mukhtar of the village of Surda, near Ramallah. In both incidents Israel got a public relations blow, and in neither incident did it achieve its objectives. In Assira Israel […]
Blue is the color of travel
Travel in the Middle East is one of the best reflections of the politics of the area. What happens at airports, bridges and other ground crossing points is so indicative of the low level of respect that governments have for human beings. There are VIP tracks for politicians and businesspeople with connections to senior politicians. […]