Tag Archives: Ottoman Empire

The Zionist Achievement When the French essayist and playwright Edmond Fleg attended Herzl’s Third Zionist Congress in Basel in 1899, he marvelled at the scene. It wasn’t merely the dynamism of the convenor that moved Fleg but the diversity of the delegates. ‘I looked about me. What Jewish contrasts! A …

Today we mark a momentous historical event that is not sufficiently recognized: Following WWI, the victorious Allied powers met to determine the allocation of territory that had been captured from a defeated Ottoman Empire. The first meeting, held in London in February 1920, established, among other matters, that Palestine would …

We have just completed the three-week holiday cycle that began with Rosh Hashana and ended with Simchat Torah (a rejoicing in the Torah). It has provided a very necessary respite from the constant tensions and anxieties generated by the news – a time for garnering strength and reaffirming priorities. As …

On May 29, 2019, the United States team tasked with forging peace in the Middle East met with Jordan’s monarch Abdullah II.  Abdullah insisted that the so called “deal of the century” include an independent sovereign state of Palestine with “East Jerusalem” as its capital. On its face, the king’s …

Thursday is Balfour Day: Marking 100 years since British Foreign Secretary Lord Walter Balfour wrote a letter on behalf of the British government to Lord Walter Rothschild, a leader of the British Jewish community, for transmission to the Zionist Federation of Great Britain. “His Majesty’s Government view with favor the …

Israeli settlements in the West Bank have been tried in the New Zealand court of public opinion and found to be illegal.  Waikato Professor of Law, Alexander Gillespie, recently declared in the NZ Herald that  “There is no question in international law that these settlements are illegal.”  Similarly, many of …

There are – forgive the cliché – just so many hours in the day.  And so, which happens now and again, as I am working on the Legal Grounds Campaign, it is impossible to do a full posting, as much as I would like to. There is enough happening to …

President Obama’s mission to degrade and destroy Islamic State (ISIL) in Syria and Iraq has been seriously undermined by these poor political judgement calls…. Claiming that ISIL is not “Islamic” Arguing that ISIL is not a State because no other Government recognises it Intruding upon Syrian sovereign territory in breach …