Facts, News, Trends, Analysis
People around the world, among them journalists, commentators, bloggers, scholars and government leaders have decried the Israeli attack on Gaza. International Herald Tribune and New York Times columnist Roger Cohen writes in The New York Review of Books (February 12 issue), “I have never previously felt so despondent about Israel, so shamed by its actions, [...]
The latest war in the region ended January 18 when Israel and Hamas each declared separate ceasefires. During 23 days of bombardment and ground fighting, 1300 Palestinians (mostly civilians) and 13 Israelis (3 civilians) died. The disproportionate death toll tells the story of military asymmetry, but not the true dimensions of the human tragedy. In [...]
Israeli author, David Grossman has a reasoned piece in the NYT today about the current Israeli campaign to crush Hamas. He argues for a 48 hour unilateral ceasefire on Israel’s part. Grossman, whose eldest son was killed in the 2006 Lebanon War, maintains that such an approach taken early in that conflict, would have put [...]
Supporters of Hamas gathered in Gaza City on Sunday to mark the 21st anniversary of the Sunni organization’s founding. Presumably in recognition of the occasion, a meeting involving Israeli and Egyptian officials took place in Cairo in an attempt to seek renewal of the current ceasefire agreement between Hamas’ military apparatus and opposition forces in [...]
Late into the hours on Sunday, former President Jimmy Carter met with Khaled Meshaal, the militant leader of Hamas who lives in exile in Damascus, Syria. We know that the major issues discussed in that meeting include the fate of Gilad Shalit who was kidnapped by Hamas back in the summer of 2006 and has [...]
As Syria steps onto the main stage again and foreign dignitaries are eager to do business with its president, Bashar al-Assad, is it necessary or fair for the West, under pressure from Israel, to continue to demand that it break ties with Hamas and Hezbollah? If these are legitimate and recognized political parties in the Middle [...]
Tony Blair has called for the Gaza Strip to be brought back into peace process, so that a two-state solution can remain a proposed negotiation between Israel and Palestine. Blair emphasizes that even though Hamas has been in control of the Gaza Strip since 2006, instead of having the West push their ill feelings onto [...]
Since November 4, Israel has refused to open its borders with the Gaza Strip due to the violence that occurred between the two societies especially since Hamas has taken control. However, tensions have died down a little today. Israel was ordered by Defense Minister Ehud Barak to deliver truckloads of food, water, fuel, and other [...]
Tense relations between Egypt and Hamas have soured after Cairo for the first time openly accused the Islamists of torpedoing Palestinian reconciliation talks. Foreign Minister Ahmed Abul Gheit was quoted as saying on Thursday that months of Egyptian-mediated talks between rivals Hamas and Fatah failed in November because of “Hamas’s lack of enthusiasm toward reconciliation.” [...]
Abdel Aziz Dweik, the Speaker of the Palestinian parliament, has been convicted by an Israeli military court of being a member and an officer of an illegal organization, Hamas. He has been in prison since his arrest in 2006 and is awaiting sentencing. He and many other Palestinian legislators were detained after Hamas-allied militants captured [...]
