At one end of Ramallah, Israeli riot police line up behind barricades, stubby tear gas rifles leveled at shoulder height toward the few dozen young Palestinian men who reliably emerge from the Qalandia refugee camp when Israeli soldiers emerge from the checkpoint of the same name two blocks away. Camera crews set up between them, …
U.N.
U.N. Security Council: Is It Time to Veto the Veto?
The fitful Palestinian approach to the U.N. Security Council will be, as all have known for a long time, stillborn. The near certainty of a U.S. veto in defense of Israeli interests has made the Palestinian gambit for statehood recognition more about ritual symbolism than any real process. This when, according to a BBC poll, the majority …
Will the Palestinians Settle for a Rain-Check at the United Nations?
Move along, there’s nothing to see here.
The much vaunted September fireworks between Israel, the U.S. and the Palestinians at the United Nations is turning out to be a rather soggy squib. As things stand, by virtue of the choices made by President Mahmoud Abbas in the face of considerable pressure from his longtime sponsors in …
Why Obama’s U.N. Speech Won’t Raise U.S. Credibility in the Middle East
In a U.N. General Assembly address to which the world looked for a meaningful response on the stalled Israeli-Palestinian peace process, President Barack Obama delivered a pretty good domestic reelection campaign speech. Pro-Israel voters and donors in the U.S. will have been reassured by the President’s passionate assertion of …
Ahmadinejad’s Words Aren’t Taken Seriously at the U.N. But Are Obama’s?
NBC may have been seduced into doing a credulous exclusive “Day in the Life of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad” special — as if the embattled Iranian president was sufficiently relevant to world events as to warrant interest in his workout routine — but no decision-makers will set much store by what he says when he turns up for his annual …
Netanyahu to Abbas: Why Not Kibbitz in New York?
“Let’s use New York for negotiations,” Israel’s minister for intelligence suggested to a roomful of journalist and diplomats bright and early Monday morning. And before the witching hour Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was making it official:
“I call on the chairman of the Palestinian Authority to launch direct …
Can a Palestinian Authority Rooted in an Untenable Status Quo Survive the U.N. Clash?
Quiz question: Who is applying to the United Nations for membership of a Palestinian state not-yet-born? Is it
a) the Palestinian Authority, or
b) the Palestine Liberation Organization?
Much of the media reporting treats the two as if they were interchangeable labels for the same thing — hardly surprising, perhaps, given …
Palestinians’ Political Calculus: Would Obama Take a Stand Against the Arab Spring?
Behind the bold decision by Palestinian leaders to press for full membership in the United Nations – with its risk of a U.S. veto in the Security Council – is the Palestinians’ calculation of another risk: All the Obama administration stands to lose by conspicuously denying the aspirations of a moderate, democratic national …
Why Palestinian Leaders are Doing Obama a Favor By Taking Their U.N. Bid to the Security Council
Friday’s announcement by President Mahmoud Abbas that he will next week present the U.N. Security Council with a formal request for U.N. membership of a sovereign state of Palestine may be better news for Israel and the U.S. than it might appear, even if it confirms the failure of the Obama Administration to stop the …
Why the Obama Administration is Failing in its Efforts to Stop the Palestinians’ U.N. Bid
The Obama Administration is flailing — and failing — in its eleventh-hour efforts to stop a U.N. vote on Palestinian statehood next week. It’s as if Washington has woken in a panic after sleeping through its diplomatic alarm clock, and discovering that it has missed history’s bus. The Administration has dispatched delegations of …
Palestinian Official: Bid for U.N. Recognition Will “Salvage the Peace Process”
Slowly and possibly surely, the Palestinian approach to the United Nations endgame is emerging. And it sizes up as a relatively moderate strategy, one that suggests holding back on any attempt to charge Israel in newly available international courts as long as Israel stops expanding its settlements on Palestinian territory.
That, …
George Osborne, Anthony Weiner and Why Neither the U.K. nor the U.S. Press Knows How to Cover Sex
Though you wouldn’t believe it from the hacking scandal and the panoply of salacious headlines gracing Britain’s papers daily, the U.K. actually has tougher libel laws than the U.S. There is no guaranteed freedom of speech in Britain, and the truth is judged on face value with no regard to intent, i.e., even if it’s an …
American Hikers’ Fate Again Caught in Iran’s Domestic Power Struggle
Once, the two American hikers still being held by Tehran after inadvertently straying into Iranian territory while hiking along the Iran-Iraq border two years ago could be seen as pawns in the strategic confrontation between their own country and the Islamic Republic. A simple misunderstanding that might have been easily resolved …