Israel/ Palestine

(Middle East Monitor ) – An Israeli attack on Gaza was imminent, and not because of any provocations by Palestinian groups in the besieged, impoverished Gaza Strip. The Israeli military escalation was foreseeable because it factors neatly in Israel’s contentious political scene. The war was not a question of “if”, but “when”. The answer came […]

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European Court of Justice rules Israeli Squatter Products from Stolen Palestinian Lands must be Labeled

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The Associated Press reports that the European Court of Justice has ruled that goods produced in the West Bank by Israeli squatters on Palestinian land must be labelled as such, and cannot pretend to be from Israel proper. The move does not go as far as some EU members. Ireland’s […]

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Israeli Army slammed for Hypocrisy over Cancer Tweet, as Gaza Patients Denied Care

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Al Jazeera English reports that a big tweetstorm broke out on Twitter after the Israeli military posted a tweet about two female soldiers who shaved off their hair and donated it for wigs for cancer patients. Chemotherapy is accompanied by hair loss. Observers complained that the Israeli military authorities have […]

Israel/ Palestine

Israel: Would a Prime Minister Benny Gantz Launch a New War on Gaza?

Ramzy Baroud

(Middle East Monitor) – Benny Gantz, the leader of Israel’s newly-founded Kahol Lavan – the Blue and White Party – is the rising star of Israeli politics. The fact that he has the opportunity to finally oust long-serving Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, speaks volumes about the appeal of his political message, his charisma, and his […]

Israel/ Palestine

Gaza: what life is like under the continuing Israeli blockade

The Conversation

By Yaser Alashqar | – In his latest update to the UN Security Council in late October, Nicolay Mlandenov, the UN’s special coordinator for the Middle East peace process, warned that as the occupation of Palestinian land continues and a two-state solution moves further away: “It is a multi-generational tragedy for the peoples of this […]

Israel/ Palestine

How Israel is Usurping the Rich Archeological Heritage of the Palestinian West Bank

Middle East Monitor

By Nabil Al-Sahl | – Palestine is one of the richest countries in the world in terms of antiquities, competing with Egypt in the Arab world. At least 22 civilisations have left their mark on Palestine, the first of which were the Canaanites; their presence is still visible today . . . Studies have indicated […]

Israel/ Palestine

Is Microsoft Funding Israeli Spying on Palestinians?

Ramzy Baroud

(Middle East Monitor) – The act of Palestinian activists covering their faces during anti-Israeli occupation rallies is an old practice that spans decades. The masking of the face, often by Kufyias – traditional Palestinian scarves that grew to symbolise Palestinian resistance – is far from being a fashion statement. Instead, it is a survival technique, […]

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Bernie Sanders: Give Aid to Gaza; & It isn’t Anti-Semitism to Say Netanyahu Gov’t Racist

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Bernie Sanders has almost single-handedly changed the discourse on Israel in the Democratic Party and in the United States more generally. But his appearance at the J-Street conference was a further tour de force, and the positions he has staked out clearly have put pressure on the other Democratic candidates […]

Israel/ Palestine

Time for a Paradigm Shift in Israel: From Two-State Solution to One-State Reality

Ian S. Lustick

(Informed Comment) – Equipped with the concept of the one-state reality, we can see in one particular feature of today’s political soap opera the seeds of profound and hopeful change. Politics in Israel, as elsewhere, can be approached as unfolding in three kinds of time: geological, strategic, and sports. States, peoples, and political systems appear, […]