israel news

The Israeli Paradox

By Shimon Z. Klein  The Winograd Report has come out. This has caused a stir in the handling of the Lebanese War of July/August 2006. The “triumvirate” (PM Ehud Olmert, Defense Minister, Amir Peretz...

The Dilemmas of Prisoner Exchanges and Kidnappings

By Shimon Z.Klein  On July 25th 2006, Gilad Shalit, the Israeli soldier doing his compulsory service was kidnapped by Palestinian terrorists. The intention of his kidnappers was and still is to use...

The Importance of the Arab (Saudi) Peace Initiative

By Shimon Z. KleinThe Arab Peace Initiative is an interesting development towards granting Israel an opportunity to develop normal diplomatic relations with its Arab neighbours.  This development...

Merkel finally offends somebody

In a constructive move that is widely seen as a great step forward in increasing Germany’s international credibility, German Chancellor Angela Merkel has spent the past few days pissing off and...

The National Unity Government and Peace

?By Shimon Z. Klein One would expect that there would be some movement towards a cease-fire as a good will gesture towards the world of nations. Instead, only a few days after the national unity...

Humiliation of the Palestinians

By Shimon Z. Klein There are signs that cracks are appearing in the sanctions against the Palestinian national unity government. Norway (who is not a member of the EU) acts independently. It has...

The National Unity Government of Palestine and the Future of Peace

By Shimon Z. Klein The Mecca Agreement that had been signed by Hamas and Fatah under the mediation of Saudi Arabia seems to be working as far as cessation of violence between Hamas and Fatah is...

On Facing Mecca?

[I am not sure that I agree with Uri Avnery (Israeli journalist below) here on the refusal of Hamas to confirm the right of Israel to exit. However, there are other negotiable issues to consider such...

The Violence on the Temple Mount

By Shimon Z. Klein The violence that erupted at the Moghrabi Gate at the entrance to the Temple Mount and Al-Aqsa Mosque was predictable. The Israeli Authorities had decided to take unilateral action...