Darkness envelops Gaza—literally. Israel has limited the supply of electricity to two and a half hours per day. It is questionable whether there is a place in the world where people would keep quiet under such circumstances, but Gazans challenge…
Tag: PA
States of denial: Israel and the impending collapse of the Palestinian Authority
Here are the words of Israel’s Minister of Immigrant Absorption, Ze’ev Elkin, the man with the highest IQ in the Knesset.“The current wave of terrorism is a ‘promo’ of what will happen after the Palestinian Authority (PA) collapses. Most scenarios…
Abu Mazen Throws in the Towel
Sixteen years after signing the Oslo Accords, the Palestinians have concluded that there isn’t any point in continuing the peace process with Israel. That is the only way to understand the declaration by Mahmoud Abbas (Abu Mazen) that he won’t…
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…
Bil’in: (Partial) Triumph in a Political Vacuum
While the Israeli Occupation hardens and the Fatah/Hamas split deepens, a remote little village near Ramallah has celebrated a victory. This is Bil’in. It went to the Israeli High Court and won a change in the route of the Separation…
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…
Workers’ Party: Assessing the Campaign
THE number of votes that a party receives is an open book, enabling it to know how much weight it really has with the public. This point is especially important for one that takes itself seriously as an alternative to…
Imposing Democracy, Reaping Chaos
THE New Middle East was the title of a book by Shimon Peres, today Deputy Prime Minister to Ariel Sharon. And now we have the “democratic Middle East,” ballyhooed by none other than US President George W. Bush. Each of…