The US has made its offer to Israel for a 90-day “moratorium” on settlement construction in the West Bank. Some see this as a major setback in US policy. I have to say, it seems to me to be much ado about nothing. In exchange for this moratorium, which will include a stoppage of any work begun since the end of the last “freeze” but would not include Jerusalem, the…
Did Benjamin Netanyahu overplay his hand? Probably not, but he’s definitely testing the boundaries. That is the only way to explain his going beyond even his own usual hubris and obnoxiousness this week. What looked at first like more of the same old Bibi nonsense – he comes to the US, Israel announces more building in both East Jerusalem and Ariel – has morphed into something more. The Obama Administration,…
Walking down a street in Hebron that was once a bustling market, one sees shut up stores, and sometimes spray painted slogans in Hebrew on them. Turn up the road near the Ma’arat Ha’Machpela (Tomb of the Patriarchs), which is also the Ibrahimi Mosque, and one can stroll down the deserted Shehadeh Street, and see the same slogans and symbols: rough Stars of David; stylized ones with a fist representing…
PRESS RELEASE Jewish Voice for Peace, Israelis and Palestinians: Two Peoples, One Future http://www.jvp.org http://www.YoungJewishProud.org Contacts: Antonia House, 646-541-3174 Matan Cohen: 917-460-6350 Eyal Mazor: 408-718-2942 Young Jews Challenge American Jewish Leadership At Jewish Federation General Assembly in New Orleans. Disrupt Bibi Netanyahu speech to say Israel’s own behavior is making it a pariah, student and peace groups that are trying to stop Israeli human rights violations [November 8, 2010, New…
In my latest piece at the Meretz USA blog, I look at some of the interpretations out there of the mid-term elections and offer my own view of them.