“To be an Arab in Israel is also to suffer from a qualitatively different kind of discrimination: a racism that is unknown to anyone who can claim to be an “ethnic Jew,” or, in the case of the Russian Christians, a “social Jew.” The discrimination is not just structural but ideological: it is the negation of the Arab citizen’s right to an identity as an Israeli. It is felt in the absolute exclusion of the minority from all aspects of the Zionist nation-building programme.” Jonathan Cook exposes the logical and methodological flaws in the writings of former Israeli government minister Professor Amnon Rubinstein. Read more about Amnon Rubinstein's lazy -- and misleading -- math 

To the extent that the recent military acts in the territories are debated in Israel at all, the debate almost solely revolves around the question whether or not it is possible to end the Palestinian terror this way. The Palestinians, as human beings, simply do not exist. Tanya Reinhart writes in Yediot Aharonot. Read more about The Palestinians don't even have weather 

Israel is good at floating vague ideas that grow in their generosity and magnanimity if they are rejected but quickly prove empty of any meaningful content if accepted, writes regular EI contributor Hasan Abu Nimah, who recently visited Washington and found a number of dangerous myths about the Palestinian-Israeli conflict alive and well. Read more about Myths and Disasters 

The snow will soon melt and the destroyed homes, bullet riddled walls, tank-rippled roads will re-appear, only to jog the collective memories of those Palestinians that remain the victims of this thirty-six year man- made tragedy called Israeli occupation. Read more about Snow-covered Rubble 

Why have the Palestinians lost so much international support, and what can be done to regain it, asks EI contributor Joseph Massad. Read more about Post-Oslo solidarity 

“After nearly two years of reversals of fortune and near-death moments, the landmark case lodged by survivors of the Sabra and Shatila massacres was resurrected and revitalized last week, offering renewed hope to human rights activists and victims of state crimes throughout the world and posing challenges to those who have enjoyed impunity for far too long.” Laurie King-Irani, an EI founder and the North American Coordinator of the International Campaign for Justice for the Victims of Sabra and Shatila, looks at the implications of a decision by the Belgian Supreme Court last week. Read more about Belgium's Challenge to War's Ancient Calculus 

Following my last military reserve duty, I was kicked out of my unit, the educational corps of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF). There was a surrealistic dimension to the whole experience. I had driven a few hours to a base located near the Egyptian border after having been asked to lecture about “leadership” to 60 soldiers from the Givati infantry brigade who were about to begin an officers’ training course. These young men are the military’s future commanders, its elite. Neve Gordon, writing in In These Times notes that, “When the end justifies the means, then everything is permitted.” Read more about Israel's Slippery Moral Slope