2013 News

December 9, 2013 Palestinians remember Mandela as an inspiration

"The complication in South Africa's relations with Israel, in the context of Palestine, is derived from the fact that we see the struggle of Palestine as similar to that of ours against apartheid ...,"

December 7, 2013 In Mandela’s life is a lesson for Palestinians

Both Palestinians and Israelis have much to learn from the great leader. The most important lesson for Palestinians is to maintain the momentum of their global campaign - and to remember that Mandela emerged from jail as a peacemaker, not a soldier

November 30, 2013 Latin America’s "forgotten" Palestinians

Latin America is home to the largest Palestinian population outside the Arab world, numbering more than half a million, but very little has been written about Palestinian communities there.

October 8, 2013 Palestinian GDP can expand by a third if Israel lifts limits: World Bank

The Palestinian economy could expand by over a third if Israel were to lift its restrictions on about 60 percent of the West Bank that it controls, the World Bank said in a report published Tuesday

September 28, 2013 Ministers' statements on borders expose depth of racism in Israeli politics

Israel's housing minister, Uri Ariel, has claimed that the state's borders "extend from the Jordan River to the western border", which is, of course, the Mediterranean Sea. He told an Israeli news channel that he rejects the establishment of another state "based on the 1967 borders".

September 25, 2013 Ilan Pappe weighs in on One State

The present peace process follows this containment policy. Though containment represents a continuation of past policies toward Palestinians, it is now intensified and adjusted for regional instability in the aftermath of the Arab Spring

September 25, 2013 One-state: solution or illusion for Palestine?

The one- state plan is suddenly gaining traction in the elite portion of mainstream American media.

September 25, 2013 Two-State Illusion

Israeli governments cling to the two-state notion because it seems to reflect the sentiments of the Jewish Israeli majority and it shields the country from international opprobrium, even as it camouflages relentless efforts to expand Israel's territory into the West Bank.

September 15, 2013 Will Kerry ask Israel to ratify chemical weapons treaty, with Syria plan afoot?

Should Israel agree to dismantle its own chemical arsenal it could win the international credit it desperately needs, and also maintain more important strategic security interests

September 15, 2013 Somewhere Between the One and the Two-State Solution

Palestinians cannot be recognized as full citizens of a Jewish state. This is not a conventional conflict because it is not a border conflict but a legitimacy conflict, because the claim is for the entire and same territory, so there cannot be a conventional solution.

August 11, 2013 Fear and loathing in Upper Nazareth

Arab and Jewish residents respond to Mayor Shimon Gapso, who is determined to keep his town predominantly Jewish.

August 7, 2013 Kenyan lawyer plans to sue Israel over Jesus death

A former spokesman of the Kenyan Judiciary, Dola Indidis is reportedly planning to sue Israel over the execution of Jesus Christ.

July 31, 2013 U.S. to Legalize Discrimination Against American Palestinians In Israel

I am writing to you today to urge you to speak out and take action against a bill in which the U.S. government would codify Jim Crow-like policies against its citizens traveling to Israel.

July 25, 2013 Israel an apartheid state? A majority of Jews say yes

A majority of Israeli Jews admit they are living in an apartheid state, a recent survey claimed. Many also believed that Palestinians should be denied the right to vote, and suggested that Jewish citizens should be given preferential treatment.

July 17, 2013 Israeli premier phones European leaders after ban

Israel's premier talked with a series of European leaders Wednesday, outlining his strong objections to a European funding ban on Israeli institutions operating in occupied territories, officials said.

July 17, 2013 FACT SHEET: THE ISRAELI GOVERNMENT & THE TWO-STATE SOLUTION

Although in 2009 Likud leader and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said for the first time that he supports the idea of a Palestinian state, with numerous caveats, a majority of Likud members oppose the two-state solution and the party as an institution has never endorsed it.

June 5, 2013 Muslim religious leaders condemn Holocaust deniers

Muslim religious leaders and scholars from around the globe issued a joint statement Monday condemning any attempts to deny or justify the Holocaust in which six million European Jews perished under Nazi Germany.

May 17, 2013 Senior Fatah officials call for single democratic state, not two-state solution

Calling the two-state solution unrealistic, senior Fatah members issued a document Wednesday calling for the establishment of one democratic country in the area between the Mediterranean Sea and the Jordan River.

May 17, 2013 The Islamist Purge

Islamist "revolutionaries" are therefore now turning to that time honored method of undemocratically consolidating power, the mass purge.

May 17, 2013 Invitation: Israel-Palestine Forum
May 10, 2013 The Israel-Palestine Spring

Since the two state solution (TSS) is dead various proposals for a one state solution (OSS) are discussed again. However most of these proposals are either so one-sided that they will not be accepted by both sides, or they lack a concept for how go from the actual situation to the implementation.

May 9, 2013 A Christian prospective on Peace in Israel-Palestine

This is an equally important question. Who are these people who are called Palestinians? Are they themselves descendants of Abraham

May 7, 2013 TWO STATES, ONE COUNTRY, ISRAELPALESTINE: A Path Towards a Shared Future
April 20, 2013 Bethlehem Has New Female Mayor

Baboun, a mother of five, is running the Biblical city which has very little room for expansion. Bethlehem rose to prominence when its local inns were too full to allow Joseph and the Virgin Mary to give birth to Jesus.

April 20, 2013 The Muslims who saved Jews from the Holocaust

A new exhibition aims to celebrate the role Muslims played in saving Jewish lives during the Holocaust

April 13, 2013 Proposal for ending the Palestinian/Israeli conflict

This is a road map for creating a Union of Israel/Palestine. This plan allows Israelis and Palestinians to pursue a shared future based on a bi-national identity while ensuring a Jewish state and a Palestinian state with democracy, security, equality and respect for all citizens regardless of religion, gender, race or ethnicity.

March 31, 2013 Palestinian Christians Face Greater Restrictions in Israel This Easter

while pilgrims from Africa, Asia, the US and Europe can easily spend the most important Christian holiday in Jerusalem, Christian Palestinians living only five to 15 miles away cannot. According to Palestinian priests, the number of permits available have been greatly reduced for this holiday.

March 23, 2013 Christians need military permission to pray in Israel

The retired Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, has pointed out that Christians living in the Holy Land "have needed military permission to pray since 1993".

March 20, 2013 Monarch in the Middle

If Israel doesn't agree to a Palestinian state quickly, Abdullah said, "apartheid or democracy" will be its choice. "The practical question is, can Israel exert permanent control over Palestinians who are disenfranchised ad infinitum, or does it eventually become a South Africa, which couldn't survive as a pariah state?"

March 20, 2013 Jordan's King Finds Fault With Everyone Concerned

He blamed his own government's secret police for blocking his efforts at political reform. For example, he charged that the secret police had conspired with conservatives in the political elite to block his attempts to open up more representation in Parliament to Palestinians, who make up more than half of Jordan's population.

March 18, 2013 Displaced Palestinians return to village after 64 years

The third generation of the displaced community of Iqrit decided that they'd had enough of waiting for authorities to allow them to return to their village lands, taking matters into their own hands. Last August, they set up their base in a room adjacent to the old church and haven't left since

March 16, 2013 Why the window is closing on Middle-East peace

The End of the Two-State Solution Why the window is closing on Middle-East peace

March 14, 2013 Could two become one?

Avi Shlaim, a leading British chronicler of the Israel-Palestine saga who was born in Baghdad and brought up in Israel, says he has "shifted…to supporting a one-state solution with equal rights for all citizens

March 13, 2013 Is Any Hope Left for Mideast Peace?

Only Israeli Jews are full citizens of that land, while 5 million Palestinians live in a state of subjugation or exile and 1.2 million Palestinian Arabs live in Israel as second-class citizens. A "one-state solution" based on enduring discrimination and oppression is ultimately unsustainable. Its only remaining external support comes from the United States and Europe, whose citizens are increasingly aware that such a structure is deeply at odds with their own values, as apartheid South Africa was.

March 12, 2013 Gaza's Orthodox Church Celebrates 1,606 Years

In the Orthodox Church in Gaza, surrounded by saints' icons, Greek Orthodox Bishop Alexios and worshippers - sing hymns, hold candles and burn incense.

March 10, 2013 End Israel's boycott of Palestine

Maybe "senior fellows" at the Council on Foreign Relations don't follow the news, like reports that Jerusalem is a practically a closed city to most Muslims, Arabs and particularly Palestinians

March 9, 2013 It ain't easy being an Arab citizen of Israel,

In other words, the Arab local councils are poorer and less well managed, and their inhabitants receive far fewer municipal services than the inhabitants of the Jewish local authorities. Being an Arab citizen in the state of Israel just isn't all that fun.

March 3, 2013 Israel Launches Palestinians Only buses (60 years after Montgomery)

Israel 'Palestinians Only' Buses" so that Jews don't have to ride on buses with Palestinians. I believe this is worse than conditions in Montgomery that Rosa Parks felt intolerable in the 1950s

February 24, 2013 My Journey From Palestine to Hollywood

My wife and I had seen that look before -- on the faces of our kids, mostly. After all, like all Palestinian children living in the West Bank, ours have grown accustomed to the humiliation of ID checks and interrogations.

February 23, 2013 George Galloway refuses to debate with Israeli student at Oxford

"I refused this evening at Oxford University to debate with an Israeli, a supporter of the apartheid state of Israel. The reason is simple: no recognition, no normalisation. Just boycott, divestment and sanctions, until the apartheid state is defeated. I never debate with Israelis nor speak to their media. If they want to speak about Palestine - the address is the PLO."

February 21, 2013 Two American Jewish organizations call for further review of Hagel statements

The Anti-Defamation League and American Jewish Committee request explanation from Obama's defense secretary nominee on 2007 speech in which he allegedly said the State Department acted as an 'adjunct' of Israel's foreign ministry

February 21, 2013 Palestinian filmmaker briefly detained at U.S. airport on way to Oscars

Immigration officials detained Palestinian filmmaker of the Oscar-nominated documentary "5 Broken Cameras" while he was on his way to a dinner preceding Sunday's Academy Awards.

February 19, 2013 Israeli soldiers instructed to bar non-Jewish citizens from town

'It felt just like apartheid, or things that recall dark times and the Holocaust - that you allow someone entry to a specific place based only on his religion.

February 17, 2013 Chuck Hagel Accusers Who Allege Anti-Semitism Getting Pushback

Critics from Elliott Abrams to The Wall Street Journal have been attacking Obama's defense secretary nominee as 'anti-Jewish' or 'anti-Israel,' but are now retreating.

February 10, 2013 Israeli poll endorses single-state solution

Of the several messages the Israeli voters sent to their political class in the latest Israeli Knesset elections one very important is that they also voted for one-state solution

February 9, 2013 Palestinian Textbooks Don't Vilify Jews, New Study Reveals

A landmark State Department-funded study has cleared the Palestinians of demonizing Jews in school textbooks.

January 29, 2013 Palestinian deaths raise concern over use of live fire

At least five young unarmed people shot by soldiers despite rules permitting live fire only in extreme circumstances.

January 25, 2013 Impunity to Kill: Six Palestinians Shot Dead by Israeli Forces in Less Than a Fortnight

These deaths have gone largely unreported and Israeli aggression continues apace. The Israeli government and its military continue to kill, maim and destroy lives and livelihoods with impunity, unchecked by the international community.

January 25, 2013 Israel's election NO opportunity for two-state solution

Instead of increasing the likelihood of a peace agreement with the Palestinians, the fence helped to decrease its possibility. The Wall has become the foundation of the mass delusion in Israeli society that the current status quo of Palestinian disenfranchisement can continue ad infinitum.

January 24, 2013 Abbas to invite Israeli MKs to Ramallah

Hoping to capitalize on the unexpected strength of moderates in Israel's incoming parliament, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas wants to sit down with representatives of Israeli parliamentary factions.

January 24, 2013 Has Assad Regained Upper Hand?

Those who visited Assad recently were surprised by how unworried he seemed. From his palace - which, contrary to rumor, he has never left - the president discussed the current situation as if the balance of power has turned.

January 1, 2013 Report: Palestinians to outnumber Jews by 2020

PA's Central Bureau of Statistics' global census says some 11.6 million Palestinian live worldwide; numbers in Middle East to reach 7.2 million in 2020 - compared to 6.9 million jews