When it comes to deference to Israel, Capitol Hill just can’t seem to help itself.
How Exactly Does Palestinian Statehood Sabotage the Peace Process?
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Palestine
Rick Perry Rallies Against Palestinian Statehood With Israeli and American Jewish Leaders
Rick Perry co-hosted a press conference for Republicans, members of U.S. pro-Israel groups and Likud politicians to oppose Palestinian statehood.
House Reps Reach Across the Aisle to Block Palestinian Statehood
Influential Republican Ros-Lehtinen is sponsoring a bill that would make U.S. funding of UN agencies conditional on how the body votes on Palestinian statehood.
Israeli Settlers: Never Shy About Taking the Law Into Their Own Hands
Israeli Knesset Member Ben-Ari fears Israeli settlers will be overwhelmed by Palestinian demonstrators and that the Israeli Defense Force won’t protect them.
100 Members of Hamas Arrested Just Before UN Vote for Palestinian Statehood
Hamas arrests by Israeli security forces would seem to indicate a severe setback for Hamas’s influence in the Occupied Territories.
The Upcoming Palestinian Uprising
If conditions do not change quickly by the time of the U.S.-promised veto of Palestinian statehood at the UN General Assembly on September 20, the Palestinian-Israeli conflict could explode into a new uprising with hundreds of deaths. The recent attack of Palestinian extremists on a bus in the southern Israeli resort town of Eilat and the eager over-reaction of Israeli President Benjamin Netanyahu is a harbinger of what is to come.
A Question of Friendship
Something tender about skin
and muscle framed by ancient stone.
The pyramids behind us in silhouette,
solid, rooted, entirely diagonal.
The night deepened,
the city’s glimmer distant.
Fadi drew on his smoke.
Do you support Israel?
Cluster
On his last evening
Abu Ali walked home
between the rows of pine
that line his driveway,
settled in the shelter
of his grape arbor, rolled
a cigarette, was served tea
by his wife,
who was preparing
for the expected arrival
of unexpected guests.
He spotted a cluster
above his head
and tugged at it.
Foreign Policy Goes Gaga
Lady Gaga and Alice Walker don’t have much in common. One dresses in red meat; the other doesn’t even eat the stuff. One writes lyrics like “I want your ugly, I want your disease, I want your everything as long as it’s free.” The other writes The Color Purple. But they are both cultural celebrities, and the media gravitates to them for comments. And they both have used this celebrity status to weigh in on global issues.
Breaking the Israel-Palestine Impasse
President Obama sketched a peace plan in May. The entire international community supports it, as well as the Israeli opposition parties and the Palestinian governing party. But peace remains elusive because the international community clings to the myth that there is no alternative to a bilateral negotiated solution.