Conflict Blotter

Egypt, facing a $200 million cut in US aid, blames Israeli soldiers for cooperating with smugglers bringing arms and military equipment into the Gaza Strip.

An Egyptian document distributed in Congress asserts that Israeli soldiers cooperate with smugglers in allowing arms and military equipment into the Gaza Strip.
The Egyptian document was circulated among congressmen by […]

[Read more →]

The Syrian envoy to the UN said two days ago during a meeting of the First Committee on Disarmament that Israel had bombed a Syrian nuclear facility, or so the UN reported in a subsequent press release:
Moreover, Israel was the fourth largest exporter of weapons of mass destruction and a violator of other nations’ airspace, […]

[Read more →]

Foreign policy heavyweights put in their ten cents on the Annapolis peace conference in this open letter to Condi and Bush titled “Because failure risks devastating consequences.” The parameters  suggested by the letter’s signatories have become so obvious that they hardly merit mentioning in this post and that is a testament to the fact […]

[Read more →]

Eran Shayshon, an analyst from the influential Reut Institute, writes in today’s Maariv:
There are various radical elements that are also promoting the idea of dismantling the PA for ideological reasons. In their view, dismantling the PA would encumber Israel with the full demographic, economic and political burden of the occupation, and could lead […]

[Read more →]

To mark Condi’s seventh trip to the region this year, I’m going to jot down some thoughts on the nascent peace process and the Annapolis confererence slated for late November or December. First, people still aren’t taking this very seriously by and large, despite Condi’s warnings to journalists on Monday. Palestinians, Israelis, journalists, etc, tend […]

[Read more →]

If we connect a few dots that have emerged over the past week or so, it would appear that Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has begun quietly making the necessary political preparations that will allow him to make substantive concessions to the Palestinians on Jerusalem and outposts.
On October 1, the government moved the West Bank […]

[Read more →]

I took a detour through the Negev town of Dimona earlier this week to stop in and visit the Kingdom of Yah, where some 2,800 followers of Ben Ammi, 68, live in a crowded kibbutz on the city’s outskirts. The African Hebrew Israelites hail mostly from Chicago but claim to be descendants of the lost […]

[Read more →]

Next Thursday Canadian rocker Bryan Adams will headline a peace concert in the West Bank city of Jericho. The concert is sponsored by One Voice, a New York-based NGO dedidcated to promoting understanding between Israelis and Palestinians. (See Dion Nissenbaum’s post on the concert for more background on OneVoice and its founder). The concert is […]

[Read more →]

A nice post by Google Earth whiz and virtual life ambassador Stefan Geens on why the Kyl-Bingaman amendment, which gives Israel special protection from Google Earth and satellite pic takers, is bad law.
When it comes to Israel, there is the additional issue of needing to justify the Kyl-Bingaman Amendment to the US National Defense Authorization […]

[Read more →]

Daniel Levy’s review of the Stephen Walt and John Mearsheimer book on the Israel lobby is posted on his blog Prospects for Peace. It’s the most thoughtful, measured, knowledgable, and, in my opinion, spot-on response to the book I’ve yet seen. Here’s how Levy himself summarizes his position, but the whole peice is a must […]

[Read more →]