The recent election of Mahmoud Abbas as the new President of the Palestinian Authority has renewed speculation that 2005 will bring genuine peace between Palestinians and Israelis. Insofar as it depends on Israel’s own intentions, however, such hope is entirely misplaced. Israel has made it clear that the first thing it expects of the new Palestinian leader is for him to bring the Palestinian population under control, something it could not achieve with its gloves off during almost two decades of direct military occupation of Palestinian land. Professor Saree Makdisi comments for EI. Read more about Israel's fantasy stands in the way of peace
Only hours after Mahmoud Abbas was sworn in as president of the Palestinian Authority, he found himself in the middle of a crisis. The Israeli government announced it would freeze all contacts with him, prompting negotiations affairs minister Saeb Erekat to accuse Israel of planning to do to Abu Mazen what it had done to the late President Yasser Arafat, who ended up besieged in his headquarters and almost completely frozen out of the diplomatic loop. Events had snowballed for the new president after a joint operation by three armed factions on the Mintar (Karni) Crossing on January 14 claimed the lives of six Israelis. Read more about In at the deep end for Abu Mazen
Two months ago I returned from a two-week family visit to Israel. Although I am an activist for Palestinian rights, I decided that this visit would be entirely private. Living for two weeks with my brother, his wife and their two little girls in their tiny apartment in a North Tel-Aviv suburb, gave me an opportunity to observe and see what daily life is like for Israelis at the moment. Israelis have always talked about peace, sung about it, made art and poetry about it as if it is something almost supernatural, some kind of a paradise that they yearn for but that has nothing to do with their everyday reality, and that they have no idea how to create. Read more about What "Peace" Really Means to Israelis
What explains the widespread readiness of various groups to lapse into hypnosis and euphoria about a non-existent “window of opportunity” for peace, ask EI co-founder Ali Abunimah and regular contributor Hasan Abu Nimah? They examine the motives of various constituencies that have welcomed the charade of the Mahmoud Abbas election from an endless stream of EU envoys to the US government, and suggest that the Israeli government and the Palestinian Authority may have more in common in their approach to the peace process than initially meets the eye. Read more about Mass hypnosis in the Middle East
Yesterday’s presidential poll, like a stilted, shotgun wedding, had a strange energy — drained, anemic, and hesitant. No one seemed genuinely enthusiastic. The bride was not there, after all, and big issues and concerns were also missing. Universal human rights and international humanitarian law were not honored guests at this celebration. Inviting them might have elicited passions. Had that happened, Abu Mazen might have lost his title of “moderate candidate.” Yesterday’s elections did not choose a president so much as they formalized a rite of passage in the upper ranks of Fatah, passing the mantle of leadership of the Palestinian Authority from the late Yasser Arafat to Mahmoud Abbas, a.k.a., Abu Mazen. Read more about Where is the bride?
Once again, the media and the international peace process industry have declared that it is an “historic day” for the Palestinian people. The occasion this time is the election of Mahmoud Abbas as head of the Palestinian Authority in the occupied territories. EI co-founder Ali Abunimah reflects that in the ghost-written screenplay that the Palestinians are being forced to act out, the election is “good news.” This means that any information that interferes with this agreed narrative that we are at the cusp of a new era of peace, democracy and reform has to be carefully filtered out of public view. Read more about Yet another historic day
It is fair to say that despite not having a presidential election since 1996, Palestinians are hardly euphoric over the upcoming vote. While President Bush stated December 20, “There will never be peace until a true democratic state emerges in the Palestinian territory,” Palestinians and anyone else who cares to examine the realities happening on the ground, know that peace depends on the cessation of the Israeli military occupation Palestinians have been enduring since 1967, the reaching of a just solution to the Palestinian refugee problem, and the ability for both Israelis and Palestinians to exercise their self-determination. Read more about Palestinian elections: A democratic exercise in futility
Writing about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is like writing about the “theater of the absurd”: it means penning reviews on tragicomedies that reflect the impermanence of values that question the validity of structured conventions and highlight the precariousness of human life. The shocking truth about such theater is that its dark and brooding mien serves as a thin cover for its laugh-out-loud quality. A review of the past year provides a number of skits from a particularly inspired performance. Mark Perry reflects for the Palestine Report. Read more about Touch it and die
The Herzlia Conference has become, in the last few years, Ariel Sharon’s favorite forum for addressing the nation. One year ago (December 18, 2003), the Israeli PM used it to high dramatic effect: If the Palestinians do not take steps, he said, to quash terrorism within six months, as prescribed by the Road Map, Israel would disengage unilaterally from the Gaza Strip. The speech was curt and tense, without optimistic flourishes. This year (December 18, 2004), Sharon’s Herzlia speech was euphoric. The year 2005, he announced, would be “the year of opportunities.” Roni Ben Efrat comments. Read more about On the Narrow Shoulders of Abu Mazen
Supporters of Israel have often accused Arab states of cynically exploiting the Israeli problem and the suffering it has caused the Palestinians to distract their own populations from domestic troubles. But if this has occurred, others, far beyond the region have also found the conflict a useful tool for their own selfish purposes. UK Prime Minister Tony Blair is the latest leader to brazenly exploit this tragedy, write EI contributor Hasan Abu Nimah and co-founder Ali Abunimah. Having caused massive harm to his country’s reputation and credibility by allying it with Bush’s illegal Iraq invasion, Blair has sought to mitigate the political cost by repeatedly playing the Palestinian card. Read more about A parade of charlatans
