Tag Archives: Palestinians

UAE  and  Bahrain followed Egypt and Jordan in recognizing Israel that has been continuously oppressing Palestinians. Saudi Arabia may soon join them, leaving Pakistan badly exposed to international arm-twisting through economic tools.

Should this plan become, like so many of its predecessors, a political football on both sides of the ocean, the people who make their homes and live their lives on politicians’ playing fields will lose.

From Catalonia to Kurdistan, long simmering regions are clamoring for their own states. But what good is being a state anymore?

Whatever options Hamas and Israel choose will not resolve the underlying conflict. But allowing Gazans to export goods, tax themselves and freely exit and enter the territory would at least offer Israelis and Palestinians the possibility of less bloodshed, while other possibilities, including unblocking the diplomatic impasse, are explored.

The US has little ability to curtail, let alone stop, Israel's expansion into the West Bank. It will complain and threaten certain actions to the UN or the International Criminal Court (ICC). All of these will be to no avail, certainly not during the remainder of President Barack Obama's term, says one analyst.

The only silver lining to the Israeli prime minister's surprisingly strong reelection victory is that Washington and Brussels might finally get fed up with him.

Mahmoud Abbas is doing everything in his power to prevent a general uprising, which might quite well endanger his regime. But pressure from below is mounting. Popular wisdom in Israel has already found a name for the situation: "Intifada of Individuals". For the Israeli security chiefs, that is a nightmare.

As people and leaders across the world join celebrations for the demise of Berlin Wall, they forget the prevalence of another. Many will once again praise the courage of East Germans, however they will forget that this courage in the West Bank has left hundreds of people injured.

With no diplomatic solution on the horizon and with no evidence that either party is willing, or able, to break the psychological barriers to reconciliation,Israeli and Palestinian sides are resorting to increased unilateralism and kowtowing to their own domestic pressures.

The Israeli Army’s latest campaign in Gaza will not bring an end to the conflict. Both Israel and Hamas will have to strike at each other until they can separately claim victory. Past experience – and Israel’s “Iron Dome” missile defense system – suggest that more Palestinians than Israelis will be killed before that point is reached.