Israel’s Back Yard is a just released blog in English focusing on testimonies from Israel’s checkpoints in the West Bank. Written by an Israeli human rights activist, this blog has been running for over a year in Hebrew, and has been launched this week in an English version.
Showing all posts tagged West Bank
Just don’t mention the settlements
Think Progress blogger Matthew Yglesias challenges the militant Zionist view that peace in the Middle East will only come when Iran is crushed: Israel’s Palestinian problem is fairly simple to define—there are millions of Palestinians living in Israeli-controlled territory. To preserve its Jewish character, Israel doesn’t want to give these Palestinians the rights of Israeli…
The Jewish state faces a necessary shift
MJ Rosenberg, from the liberal Israel Policy Forum, sees a major shift in American policy towards the Middle East and warns hardline Zionists that their time is up: Some pro-Israel activists are preparing for intensified war against this phenomenon [challenging Israeli policy]. They have long been in the business of shooting the messenger, believing that…
Just another barrier to peace
A secret Israeli database reveals the full extent of an illegal settlement.
But where are the actions?
Ari Shavit, Haaretz, January 29: At its core, the Israeli majority is what it was before: realistic and pragmatic. It recognizes that the occupation is futile, but is looking for a safe way to end it. It recognizes that the Greater Israel vision is finished, but fears having a Hamas state on the outskirts of…
Pass me my Zionist crack
Jewish settlements and outposts in the West Bank expanded more rapidly in 2008 than the previous year, Peace now reported on Wednesday. The timing of the report is no coincidence, and it was released on the day US Envoy to the Middle East George Mitchell was scheduled to arrive in Israel. Mitchell has spoken out…
Colonial addiction sounds like banana republic to me
How will the next Israeli government view the Obama administration, more likely to pressure the Jewish state over its settlement addiction? Will they go the route of former prime minister Menachem Begin, who more than 25 years ago lashed out at the U.S. ambassador to Israel, Samuel Lewis, telling him Israel was not a banana…
The occupation matters
Yisrael Beiteinu Chairman MK Avigdor Lieberman, a right-wing fascist likely to increase support in upcoming Israeli elections, lies through his teeth: There is no connection between settlers and the conflict through which we have been living for so many years.
Gaza: where to from here?
My latest column for New Matilda is about the likely future for Gaza and the conflict: Now that the shelling is (mostly) over, it’s clear that Israel has achieved the exact opposite of its objectives in Gaza, writes Antony Loewenstein Palestinians are slowly emerging from the rubble of their lives in Gaza. Credible stories have…
The colonies are only one of the major problems
Stephen Walt, Foreign Affairs blog, January 26: Although it was the official policy of every President since Lyndon Johnson to oppose the construction of settlements, none of them put any serious pressure on Israel to stop. The first President Bush briefly withheld some loan guarantees in 1992 over this issue, but the guarantees were authorized…