Gilad Shalit has probably never heard of Mohamed Bouazizi. He’s probably never heard of the Arab Spring. Nevertheless, the way for the deal to free the Israeli soldier was paved by that same Tunisian street vendor who set himself alight…
Article Author: Ben Efrat, Jonathan
1987: The Revolution that Refuses to Die
On December 8, 1987, an Israeli truck collided with a Palestinian vehicle in the Gaza Strip. The vehicle carried eight workers returning from a day’s labor in Israel. Four of them were killed. Prima facie, this was just another unfortunate accident.…
What’s at Stake in the Deal for Gilad Shalit
The video of kidnapped soldier Gilad Shalit ruled the ratings on the eve of the Sukkoth festival, sparking off a weekend of analyses as commentators studied each frame of the two-minute forty-second Shalit clip that Hamas released in exchange for…
The PeaceMaker
I have succeeded in making peace between the Israelis and the Palestinians. In an interview preceding the Annapolis Conference, PA negotiator Saeb Erakat claimed that peace could be delivered in half an hour. The basis, everyone already knows, is the…
Nablus: Fury and Apathy
IPHONED AP photographer Nasser e-Shtay on Friday evening, December 22, 2006. I knew he’d been working in Nablus all day. There had been a lot of work there. “Do you have anything?” I asked. His “Yes” was so definite that…
Encounter at Hawara
1. Jalia Suleiman a-Shtayeh August 20, 2006 started out like any Sunday. For most people in the West Bank, Sunday is simply a work day, the first of the week. For Jalia Suleiman a-Shtayeh it is the hardest day. If…
Hamas: A Victory Too Many
The overwhelming victory of Hamas in the Palestinian parliamentary elections of January 25, 2006 – it won 74 seats out of 132 – has struck the region like a thunderbolt. No one was as flabbergasted as Hamas itself. It resembled…
They Always Return
WE asked a group of Palestinian workers, “What do you know about Ali Abu Rob?” They were standing together at the Geha Junction, hoping an Israeli driver would stop and offer a job. We were looking for more information on…