Kidnapped Israeli settler, Eliyahu Osheri (photo: Haaretz)
Things just became a whole lot more complicated for the Israeli government as the Popular Resistance Committee, involved in the attack which captured IDF officer Gilad Shalit, also kidnapped a young settler near Ramallah possibly on Sunday. There are unconfirmed reports that the boy may already be dead; [...]
Ori Nir reports in The Forward that pro-Israel neocon, Malcolm Hoenlein and his Presidents of Major Jewish Organizations “umbrella” group have entered the fray against the Palestinian Prisoner’s Document which seeks Hamas’ acceptance of a two-state solution and an end to terror attacks outside of the Green Line (among other things). Many Palestinians, Israelis [...]
Read full post...A virtual political war has been going on for weeks within Palestinian politics between Mahmoud Abbas of Fatah and Hamas over a peace plan proposed by Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails. The plan calls for a two-state solution and tacit recognition of Israel along with Israeli withdrawal to 1967 borders. Hamas rejected the [...]
Read full post...The NY Times quotes this interesting and perceptive comment from a Palestinian political scientist about what the future might hold for both Hamas and Fatah:
Hisham Ahmed, a political scientist at Birzeit University who has written books about Hamas, called the vote “an historic moment in every sense,” but he emphasized that “these results [...]
The big Mideast news tonight is that the Palestinian people have conducted one of the most free, open and democratic elections in the entire Arab world. Palestinians made history. A million of them decided…well, we’re not really sure what they decided. But after hours of uncertainty in which a narrow Fatah victory [...]
Read full post...Haaretz reports that a Palestinian public opinion survey conducted by noted pollster Khalil Shikaki and released Saturday predicts that Fatah would gain 42% and Hamas 35% if elections were to be held today. The election is scheduled for January 25th.
Hamas green crescent carried aloft at election rally (photo: Emilio Morenatti/AP)
If this poll result [...]
Today, we have the odd spectacle of the Israeli government announcing it will not permit Palestinian residents of East Jerusalem to participate in the upcoming elections as long as Hamas participates. One thing I find horribly ironic about all this is that Israel prides itself on being one of the few Mideast democracies. [...]
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