Israel Archives - Foreign Policy In Focus

Obama’s Right Turn?

by John Feffer, Stephen Zunes | Jun 11, 2008

In many respects, presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama has played right into the hands of cynics who have long doubted his promises to create a new and more progressive role for the United States in the world. The very morning after the last primaries, in which he finally received a sufficient number of pledged delegates to secure the Democratic presidential nomination and no longer needed to win over voters from the progressive base of his own party, Obama – in a Clinton-style effort at triangulation – gave a major policy speech before the national convention of the America-Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC). Embracing policies which largely backed those of the more hawkish voices concerned with Middle Eastern affairs, he received a standing ovation for his efforts.

When Sanctions Are Not Sanctions

by Sam Gardiner, Erik Leaver | Jun 5, 2008

As the American-Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) goes around meeting with Members of Congress this week, they will be arguing for stronger sanctions against Iran. Their latest focus will be “sanctions” on refined petroleum products to Iran.

India and Israel Eye Iran

by John Feffer, Ninan Koshy | Feb 12, 2008

Israel’s spy satellite launched by India in the third week of January considerably enhances Israel’s intelligence-gathering capability. The launch of the Tecsar satellite, also known as Polaris, also marks a new stage in India-Israeli strategic relations and adds a new factor in the complex security scenario in the Middle East.

Still No Peace

by John Feffer, Stephen Zunes | Jan 16, 2008

President George W. Bush has been using somewhat stronger language than he has uttered previously about the Israeli-Palestinian situation and has made some optimistic predictions of a peace agreement within a year. Nevertheless, there is little reason to hope that the president is any more serious about or is any more likely to be successful in bringing about a negotiated settlement to the conflict.

Bush’s Israel Problem — And Ours

by Ira Chernus, John Feffer | Jan 8, 2008

No one knows what’s in George W. Bush’s mind as he heads off for Israel and Palestine. Perhaps he himself doesn’t know exactly why he’s making the trip. But if he is really going to burnish his legacy by moving both sides closer to peace, as the pundits say, he faces enormous problems on both sides.

Changing The Subject

by Daniel Millenson, Saif Rahman | Dec 3, 2007

In their recent Foreign Policy In Focus piece, “Divestment: Solution or Diversion?” activists Kevin Funk and Steve Fake criticize Sudan divestment as an ineffective diversion from the real bugaboo: Israel. If the “worst offending” companies bankrolling the Sudanese government’s genocide in Darfur are not based in the United States, Funk and Fake reason, the process of influencing companies and the Sudanese regime will inevitably be “convoluted.”

FPIF In the News

by John Feffer, Foreign Policy In Focus | Nov 26, 2007

No Thank You, Mr. PresidentBy Lev Grinberg September 13, 2002 Editor: John Gershman, Interhemispheric Resource Center ( IRC )

Visiting Hani’s House

by John Feffer, Ellen O'Grady | Nov 9, 2007

Activist artist Ellen O’Grady visits Hebron, the only Palestinian city outside East Jerusalem where Israeli settlers occupy the city center.

Neo-Zionism, Religion, and Citizenship

by Gershon Baskin, John Feffer | Sep 26, 2007

The majority of Israelis, like me, can no longer use the term "Zionist" to define what we believe in. "Zionism" has been hijacked by the movement of settlers who have built hundreds of settlements in the West Bank and are the primary obstacle to making peace with our Palestinian neighbors on the basis of the two-states-for-two-people solution. As I’ve argued in The Jerusalem Post, we need a new definition. We need a neo-Zionism.
The hijacking of Zionism is not a new phenomenon. It is at least as old as the occupation itself – 40 years. What is new is the realization that we may be facing the final opportunity to divide historic Palestine into two sovereign states. The settlement movement has changed the reality of the West Bank so deeply that many question the very possibility of creating a viable Palestinian state today.

Gasoline for the Fire

by Matthew Duss, Erik Leaver | Aug 2, 2007

Like a gambling addict who has to keep betting more to cover his previous losses, the Bush administration’s recently announced plan to provide some $65 billion worth of advanced weapons to Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Israel over the next 10 years represents a reckless, poorly considered attempt to mitigate the consequences of its ill considered invasion of Iraq. The deal also represents an admission of failure of several of the key elements of U.S. security policy in the Middle East, and, perhaps most significantly, it represents a clear abandonment of President Bush’s democratic reform agenda in the region.