In its 6 December report, The Iraq Study Group made three important points regarding the Israeli-Palestinian conflict: 1) there is no military solution to the conflict; 2) UN Resolutions 242 and 338 and the principle of “land for peace” is the only way to achieve peace; 3) hold unconditional meetings to resume negotiations. The group also stressed the importance of an engaged U.S. administration in political negotiations based on a two-state solution. While these recommendations are on target and the significance of the messenger should not be dismissed, the message is not new. Palestinians have long reiterated these points. Read more about Iraq Study Group: No Military Solution to the Palestine Question 

Salfit is a very beautiful part of Palestine in spite of all the sadness due to the huge Ariel settlement. Ariel, as well as many other smaller colonies and highways, have now managed to cut all the way across Salfit to the Jordan Valley. The northern West Bank has now been severed from the central West Bank. There are now four smaller, instead of three larger, Bantustans in the West Bank. In total, there are now five Palestinian Bantustans, if you include Gaza. Each is completely surrounded by Israeli checkpoints and with total Israeli control of air and sea space. If this is what is meant as the “Palestinian State” by Bush and Olmert, it is definitely not viable. Read more about Checkpoint Hassles 

Beginning Thursday evening the streets of Beirut were filled with anticipation. As with the night before the March 14th Coalition’s rally in Martyr’s Square after Pierre Gemayel’s assassination, cars full of Lebanese people flying various flags (national and party) outside of their windows cruised through the streets of Beirut honking and blasting music. The feel, at least from where I listened to this from my apartment, was of a small American town after the big Friday night football game. The following morning was one of intense traffic, bottlenecked because people were trying to get home or to work and so many of the streets in downtown Beirut were closed off and military installations were all over the city, including in my neighborhood, Hamra. Read more about We, Nahnu 

The title of this piece is not related to Ernest Hemingway’s novel A Farewell to Arms, but is instead a reference to a conflict in the Middle East, the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, particularly the part of that conflict being played out in Gaza, an area which has remained one of the most highly volatile places on this earth for several decades. In the last decade, the conflicting parties have time and again said “farewell to arms” amidst deaths caused by their conflict, with the hope that such an announcement would save them from more bloodshed. The past five months saw the most severe round of fighting in Gaza, that has so far claimed the lives of 479 Palestinians. Read more about Farewell to Arms in Gaza 

Between the 2nd and 8th of November 2006, the town of Beit Hanoun (population 28,000) was under a siege and blockade by Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF). Beit Hanoun is located in the Northern Gaza Strip, immediately south of the Apartheid Wall around Gaza and Erez Crossing with Israel. The besieged residents of Beit Hanoun suffered widespread collective punishment, such as a cut off of electricity and water. House to house searches were conducted, and males over the age of 16 years were summarily rounded up, imprisoned and interrogated. Many families were forced to huddle into rooms away from windows because Israeli snipers were on the rooftops killing people. Read more about Aftermath of the Beit Hanoun Siege and Massacre