By Ira Sharkansky JERUSALEM — The lead story in Monday’s Ha’aretz carries the headline, “U.S. pressuring Netanyahu to accept Obama’s peace plan; Israeli source says Americans frustrated with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for hampering U.S. efforts to stop Palestinians trying UN route to statehood in September” It is not clear if this is coming
Is Palestinian reconciliation unraveling? Read More »
Ira Sharkansky, Middle EastBy Ira Sharkansky JERUSALEM — Go to war. Then think about it. It’s the story of Vietnam, Iraq, Afghanistan, and now Libya. The New York Times reported: “As NATO airplanes and attack helicopters struck fresh targets in Tripoli and the oil port of Brega on Sunday, senior British and American officials said there was no
Wars, U.S. statements on Mideast, examples of not thinking matters through Read More »
Ira Sharkansky, Middle East
By Shoshana Bryen WASHINGTON, D.C. –Over the weekend, the Syrian government killed 122 people. What’s that? You say some of them were killed by the IDF? No. The Palestinians killed on the Syria-Israel border were sent to their death by Bashar Assad, desperate to deflect attention from the more than 1,200 Syrians he has killed
Blame Syrians for Palestinian deaths at Israel border Read More »
Middle East, Shoshana BryenBy Ira Sharkansky JERUSALEM — When I lit up my computer on Monday morning, the lead story on the New York Times Internet site reported on Palestinian-Syrian efforts to send a mass of demonstrators toward the Israeli border on the Golan Heights. The article described the motives of the Syrian regime to distract attention from
Syria demonstrates usefulness of world’s obsession with Palestine Read More »
Ira Sharkansky, Middle EastBy Shoshana Bryen WASHINGTON, D.C. — At the anniversary of the Six Day War, we are reminded of the existential threat Israel faced. Egypt was massing troops in the Sinai after closing the Straits of Tiran and expelling the UN peacekeeping force. Syria was massing troops on the Golan after years of shelling Israelis in
Israel ready for military challenges from Iran-backed neighbors Read More »
Middle East, Shoshana Bryen
By Dorothea Shefer-Vanson MEVASSERET ZION, Israel — We watch the news on TV where we are informed that murder and mayhem, death and destruction are raging all around us. Regimes are changing in the wake of mass demonstrations, some more violent than others, in several countries nearby. But we look out of the window and
If Middle East is in turmoil, why does life seem so pleasant? Read More »
Dorothea Shefer-Vanson, Middle East
By Judy Lash Balint JERUSALEM — The amplified wail of the muezzin from the Al Aksa mosque on the Temple Mount couldn’t drown out the celebrations that rang out over Jerusalem Wednesday night. From every corner of the Old City, youthful voices joined in singing all the classic Six-Day War songs as the city celebrated the
Outpouring of emotion, gratitude, marks anniversary of Jerusalem’s reunification Read More »
Middle EastBy Shoshana Bryen WASHINGTON, D.C. — The 28th of Iyar, corresponding this year to 1 June, marks the day Jerusalem was reunified in 1967. Separated from the Jewish people by the 1947 UN Partition Plan, Jerusalem was to have been corpus separatum, an area legally separate from its environs. The UN decreed, “In view of
Press release hints change in U.S. stance toward Jerusalem Read More »
Middle East, Shoshana Bryen
By Rabbi Ben Kamin SAN DIEGO –Coptic Christians in Egypt are increasingly concerned for their safety and well-being; the “spring” has quickly turned cold and threatening for this historically maligned minority in the land of the Nile. The despotic ruler of Yemen refuses to loosen his bloody grip; Gadhafi still runs and mutilates the Libyans;
President Obama underappreciates Israel Read More »
Donald H. Harrison, Middle EastBy Ira Sharkansky JERUSALEM — This is a story still developing, with potential to harm or at least to intrigue. It concerns Sami Ofer, one of the world’s richest men, and perhaps the richest of Israel, whose family businesses involve shipping, banking, chemicals, and refining. There are also addresses for the family and its businesses
Israeli business tycoon doing business with Iran? Read More »
Ira Sharkansky, Middle East
By Barry Rubin HERZLIYA, Israel — A reader asks whether there are any defensible borders in the modern world because it is possible to fire missiles or rockets across a border. Well, yes, but even in ancient times it has always been possible for an army to cross–or try to cross–a border. That isn’t what
Why Israel requires strategic depth to defend itself Read More »
Middle EastBy Ira Sharkansky JERUSALEM–Notions of justice will not go away. In response to my recent comment about having an equivalent lack of patience with the Palestinians’ claims about a right of return and the Jews’ claims about a God-given title to the Land of Israel, one of my friends responded, “without the ‘claims that God
By Sarah Bernstein, PhD JERUSALEM — Patriotism has become a dirty word in many circles. It has become equated with fanaticism and extremism. To be an Israeli patriot is even worse. And because of my left-wing views, many people would be surprised to hear me describe myself as an Israeli patriot. In Israel, patriotism and Zionism
Proudly pro-Israel AND pro-Palestine Read More »
Middle EastBy Ira Sharkansky JERUSALEM — The basic flaw in the Palestinian logic, joined by Barack Obama and lots of others, is the problem in turning back history. Why 1967? Why not something else, earlier or later, equally irrelevant? By this thinking, what we call the eastern part of United States could still be
In the Middle East, as elsewhere, time marches on Read More »
Ira Sharkansky, Middle East