The Trump Peace Plan unveiled on January 28, represents the formal institutionalisation of an Israeli apartheid state. Most other governments – regardless of whether they enthusiastically or more cautiously welcomed the Plan or even criticised or rejected it – have invariably stated that, given the absence of the Palestinian side in the process of forming this Plan, a negotiated ‘final settlement’ is still needed.
Over the last six weeks the Israeli-Palestinian conflict reached its lowest point since the 2014 Gaza war. The Palestinian protests on the Gaza border that started on March 30 under the name 'Great March of Return', turned into massacre on May 14.
While recent polls have shown global public opinion turning sharply against Israeli policy, public support for Israel in the U.S. has held firm, "The Occupation of the American Mind" looks at the information wars Israel and its supporters have been waging in the U.S. for decades.
There were plenty of important statements from Pope Francis during his recent three-day trip to Palestine and Israel—including a plea for “justice,” a traditional call for peace and a reference to the “State of Palestine”—but at the end of the day it was all about the photo-ops.
The Butcher of Beirut, as he was long known, is no more. After eight years in a coma, during which the militaristic hard-right leader was re-branded a peacenik, Israeli General Ariel Sharon was finally pronounced dead.
While Israel moved away from the far right in last month’s elections, the new coalition is unlikely to alter the occupation. Change may come from divestment campaigns, the new UN recognition of Palestinian statehood, and in the Israeli and Palestinian campaigns of nonviolent resistance.
Hagel’s nomination engendered bitter, angry opposition from the moment it was floated as a trial balloon. And the fact that Obama went ahead with the nomination is a good indication that on at least some critical foreign policy issues, Obama is not prepared to allow either the pro-Israeli lobbies or the hard-core neoconservatives, in and outside of Washington, to determine whom he could and could not choose as Secretary of Defense.
Today the Plurinational State of Bolivia can celebrate a rightful victory, as the country can become formally a party again to the 1961 Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs, but without being bound by its unjust and unrealistic requirement that “coca leaf chewing must be abolished.” This represents the successful conclusion of an arduous process in which Bolivia has sought to reconcile its international treaty obligations with its 2009 Constitution, which obliges upholding the coca leaf as part of Bolivia’s cultural patrimony.
Israel's attack on Gaza could not have happened without the strong support of US administration, but the political changes in the Middle East have left Israel and the US more isolated than ever.
The U.S. is 11 years into its current war in Afghanistan and still losing. We never had a chance to "win" this war of vengeance – and while few in Washington are ready to admit that, they’ve continued to revise and redefine just what "winning" might look like.
The occupy movement has achieved an incredible and much-needed shake-up of a long-standing political stasis in the US and elsewhere, but it is crucial now to highlight the connection between failed foreign policy, bloated military spending and illegal wars, and the economic crisis at home.
After 20 years of failed U.S. diplomacy based on protecting Israel’s occupation, the need to move to a new diplomacy rooted in international law and human rights remains a vital necessity.
American newspapers lead the new angle of biased critisim on Turkey. Such a shame because Ankara has proven to be an independant regional influence in the Middle East, with its own brand of soft power diplomacy.
Kamil Mahdi, Phyllis Bennis, Ben Hayes, Salwa Ismail, Shaheer George, Mehdi Lalou, Yao Graham
21 June 2011
Multi-media
Middle East scholars join TNI fellows in a unique and fascinating discussion of the context of the democracy uprisings in the Middle East and the way it may shape the region for future generations.
