Tag Archives: peace process

Friday three-day weekend briefs

It’s a three-day weekend for me. I took the day off. Sarah is going to help me put together my new computer desk. That would be because I know which end of a screwdriver to hold, and how to turn … Continue reading

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Hamas says Abbas Cannot Represent the Palestinians

Isn’t it exciting that the Israelis and Palestinians are meeting in direct talks to tell each other the same thing that they have been saying for the months now indirectly? Direct talks certainly hold more possibilities for progress, but also … Continue reading

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Changing Opinions

As Meryl wrote yesterday morning, Abbas is refusing to hold direct talks without preconditions that amount to determining the end game of discussions about borders. This is in no small part due to the perception that both the Obama administration … Continue reading

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Abbas’ strategy: Preconditions, preconditions, preconditions

Benjamin Netanyahu has called for direct talks with the Palestinians, with no preconditions. Israel, he says, is ready to sit down right now and discuss all of the issues. Mahmoud Abbas has said the Palestinians will not resume direct talks … Continue reading

Posted in Israel, Israeli Double Standard Time, palestinian politics | Tagged | 1 Comment

Two State Solution Eroding?

Mahmoud Abbas yesterday said that a two state solution is eroding.  This is generally assumed to mean that the only option is a single state solution. The problem is that no single state solution has ever been or could be … Continue reading

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Sabotaging negotiations before they begin

The Palestinians are not serious about negotations with Israel. It is evident to anyone who has followed the situation at any length, but they’re really making it easy to see that they don’t really want two states, side by side, … Continue reading

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Why peace processes fail

Recently, Meryl, Daled Amos and I have both written about the perverse incentives and results of the peace procdess. Now Bret Stephens writes about how Peace Processes never work: But he misses a deeper point. Even as peace processes almost … Continue reading

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The peace process is about to continue … no it isn’t … arrgh!

What’s the current state of Middle East negotiations? According to the New York Times … they’re back on track … maybe The American envoy to the Middle East, George J. Mitchell, planned to meet on Friday with Israeli and Palestinian … Continue reading

Posted in Israel, Israeli Double Standard Time, Media Bias | Tagged | 1 Comment

The twisted logic of the peace process

The other day, the Wall Street Journal ran an article How the next Middle East War could start, by Ronen Bergman. Unfortunately the article is mostly behind the Journal’s pay wall. A quick summary of the article is that all … Continue reading

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The Egyptian plan: Surrender Dorothy!

The Egyptians have a new plan for Israeli-Palestinian peace. Apparently, all Israel has to do is give the Palestinians what they want, and there will be peace. Negotiations? Well, those will be to determine exactly how much of Israel has … Continue reading

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Palestinian intransigence – the long and the short of it

Barry Rubin – the long of it The attractiveness of unilateralism is understandable. Why make a deal with Israel that might require recognizing it as a Jewish state, taking a bit less territory on the West Bank or having to … Continue reading

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The Obama administration and the end of Israeli-Palestinian peace

How clueless is the Obama administration? This clueless: The time has come to relaunch negotiations without preconditions to reach a final status agreement on two states: a Jewish state of Israel, and a viable, independent and contiguous Palestine that ends … Continue reading

Posted in Hamas, Israel, Media Bias, The One | Tagged , , | 3 Comments

When doves whine

The NYT has a short look at “Baker’s Boys” the Middle East peace processors who worked through the Bush 41 and Clinton administrations, From Experts on Mideast, No Shortage of Advice . The article is about Dennis Ross (not Rose), … Continue reading

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The futility of the peace process

Two op-eds today make the point – in different ways – that the peace process, the holy grail of diplomacy, is a chimera. David Brooks writes in The confidence war: By trial and error, Israel is learning to keep an … Continue reading

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The Miller’s tale (again)

Coming off of his triumphant op-ed in the Jerusalem Post, Aaron David Miller who has successfully participated in getting the Israelis and Palestinians come to agreements and have those agreements violated by the Palestinians, does a curtain call with a … Continue reading

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