Israel/ Palestine

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – We saw a lot of pivotal developments in the Middle East this year, including the impact of climate change in the form of increasing aridity and massive dust storms. But there were also realignments of interests that affect the U.S. Here are some of them: 1. President Biden in July […]

Christianity

A Merry Palestinian Christmas in Bethlehem: Tourism and National Resistance

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – PNN reports on a statement of the mayor of Bethlehem in the Palestinian West Bank, which has been miitarily occupied by Israel since 1967. It writes, The Mayor of Bethlehem, Hanna Hanania, said that this year’s holiday message was titled “Christmas brings us together”, that is, it unites us on […]

Israel/ Palestine

Netanyahu’s Empty Offer of “Self-Rule” without Land for Palestinians is just another form of Apartheid

Middle East Monitor

( Middle East Monitor ) – A few days before the formation of his sixth government, Benjamin Netanyahu has defined his ceilings for the solution to the Palestinian issue: self-rule for the Palestinians and security and sovereignty for the Israelis. He did not mention Jerusalem, which has already been declared to be Israel’s “united eternal […]

Far Right

New Israeli Gov’t to un-ban Violent Racists from Parliament, and allow Discrimination against Women, Gays

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The new Israeli government, formed in the nick of time by incoming Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, is so morally compromised that even the country’s right wing is visibly uncomfortable with the agreements made by Netanyahu to allow him to come back to power. Iconic among those concessions was Netanyahu’s acquiescence […]

Israel/ Palestine

As NYT’s Friedman Laments end of Israel-Palestine Two-State Solution, the Bantustan Alternative Looms

Jeffrey Rudolph

Montreal (Special to Informed Comment) – In a New York Times Dec. 18, 2022, opinion piece, Thomas L. Friedman, echoing many other mainstream commentators, bemoans that Israel’s aggressive settlement policies and growing religious nationalism “could bury the two-state solution and the one-state solution in the same grave.” However, what Mr. Friedman and other commentators fail to […]

Featured

If the US Aim in Helping Ukraine is a Rules-Based International Order it must Condemn Israeli Annexation of Syria’s Golan and Occupation of Palestine

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Ukrainian President Volodomyr Zelensky’s impassioned speech for US help in his war to defend his country from Russia was historic. After talking about the ability of Ukraine to withstand Moscow’s onslaught, He said, “Americans gained this victory, and that’s why you have succeeded in uniting the global community to protect […]

Israel/ Palestine

Why the Fight over defining Antisemitism is Key to the Future of BDS

Waging Nonviolence

By Shane Burley | – ( Waging Nonviolence) – Despite conservatives in America feigning their undying support for “free speech,” those convictions often vanish when it comes to even mild criticism of Israel. A recent Texas state bill was introduced that, among other things, barred any worker or company on a public sector contract from […]

Israel/ Palestine

New Extremist Israeli Government Further Marginalizes Palestinians and risks Alienating 70% World’s Jews

H. Scott Prosterman

Oakland, Ca. (Special to Informed Comment) – A crisis is brewing in the relationship between Israel and the United States, and even between Israel and the American Jewish community. The new Israeli government, the most extreme in the country’s history, is led by Benjamin Netanyahu, on trial for corruption, Itamar Ben-Gvir, of the far-right Jewish […]

Israel/ Palestine

Israel, Palestinian Children, and the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child (HRW)

Human Rights Watch

( Human Rights Watch ) – We write in advance of the 94th pre-session of the Committee on the Rights of the Child and its review of Israel. This submission includes information on unlawful attacks and the unjustified use of lethal force against children, detention, mistreatment, and abuse of children, the impact of movement restrictions […]