Published under ‘onevoice & middle east’

Ynet News, Elior Levy Elior Levy Jenin, once the home of suicide bombers, is now the quietest city in the West Bank. After 4 attempted attacks at the Jalamah checkpoint, the residents realized their economic prosperity could stop, and rushed to restore calm; ‘an attack at the checkpoint is an attack against us,’ says local businessman. Jenin, [...]

Regards from Medieval Times

Published under Israel, Middle East Dec 01, 2015

Yedioth Ahronoth – November 30, 2015 Regards from Medieval Times By Nahum Barnea An American acquaintance of mine got up one morning after a sleepless night, read the newspapers, brought herself up to speed on the social networks, and told her husband in a minor state of panic: “The Middle Ages are making a comeback.” [...]

By KAMEL DAOUD Black Daesh, white Daesh. The former slits throats, kills, stones, cuts off hands, destroys humanity’s common heritage and despises archaeology, women and non-Muslims. The latter is better dressed and neater but does the same things. The Islamic State; Saudi Arabia. In its struggle against terrorism, the West wages war on one, but shakes hands [...]

For years I’ve advocated and explained that terrorist groups like Al Qaeda or ISIS do not represent true Islam, and that they try to hijack a religion of peace in the name of their deformed inhumane extremist ideology. I explain that it would play into their strategy to deem Islam itself as the problem, and [...]

JERUSALEM (AP) — Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas has shined new light on the breakdown of a potentially history-altering round of 2008 peace talks, saying that he rejected an offer from Israel’s Ehud Olmert — which included placing Jerusalem’s Old City under international control — because he was not allowed to study the map. Interviewed [...]

For years, the Israeli public has engaged in a seemingly important debate on the future of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. However, the absurd thing is that the argument has focused on the wrong issue: the superficial question of whether or not there is “a partner,” something that will never offer a clear-cut answer. The question also [...]

The attempted collective punishment of all Israelis, including and especially the most creative, will do nothing to build peace and much to bolster Bibi Netanyahu. LONDON — Today, I joined J.K. Rowling, Simon Schama, Tom Holland and many others in signing a letter published in The Guardian against a growing authoritarian trend to Boycott, Divest [...]

The rise of ‘shahada’

Published under Israel, Middle East, Palestine Nov 09, 2015

On Nov. 1, at the conclusion of the funeral for Raed Jaradat, who carried out the Oct. 26 stabbing attack in Beit Hanoun, an event took place that astounded those in attendance. Jaradat’s father turned to the father of Dania Arshid, the teenager shot a few days earlier after trying to stab an Israeli soldier at the Cave of the [...]

The Facebook Intifada

Published under Middle East Nov 05, 2015

TEL AVIV — THREE weeks ago, my father was riding on a public bus in Jerusalem’s Armon Hanatziv neighborhood when terrorists from East Jerusalem shot him in the head and stabbed him multiple times. Afterward, as he lay unconscious in the intensive care unit of Hadassah Hospital in Jerusalem, fighting for his life, one question [...]

When Zionists Boycott

Published under Middle East Oct 30, 2015

By Michael J. Koplow Last weekend, the Washington Post ran an op-ed by Steven Levitsky and Glen Weyl, professors respectively at Harvard and Chicago (which has made for a dangerous combination in the past), arguing for a boycott of Israel. Levitsky and Weyl, both self-identified as progressive Jews and lifelong Zionists, argue that because their [...]