Tag Archives: West Bank

FACT: For many centuries, Palestine was a sparsely populated, poorly cultivated, and widely neglected expanse of eroded hills, sandy deserts, and malarial marshes.  This was Mark Twain’s description when he visited in 1867: A desolate country whose soil is rich enough, but is given over wholly to weeds—a silent mournful …

There are really only two ways to consider the borders of Israel when it declared independence in May 1948:  the entirety of the Palestine Mandate OR the proposed border put forward by the United Nations General Assembly in 1947.  As discussed below, only one of these is legally valid, while …

The terminology used by the United Nations that Israel is “illegally occupying Palestinian Land” has angered Israelis for a long time. The Israelis do not believe that the land is “Palestinian,” that they are “occupying it” or that living in and controlling such land is “illegal.” The Trump Administration agrees …

Mahmoud Abbas, also known as Abu Mazen,  in January 2005  was elected as the President of the Palestinian Authority to succeed Yasser Arafat in the West Bank and Gaza, aka Judaea and Samaria. The PLO chairman and was elected for a four-year term  after which there was ‘supposed’ to be …

Don’t underestimate Trump’s deal-making ability to end what he himself has called “the war that never ends” Creating another Palestinian Arab state – in addition to Jordan – has been seemingly consigned to the garbage bin of history following Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s CNN interview on 28 September. President …

Republished with permission of HonestReporting According to her Twitter profile, Daire Louise O’Dowd is a geography and English teacher.  Sadly, judging by her inaccurate and ill-informed mess of an article on IrishCentral, a US-based news site catering for the global Irish diaspora community, she should certainly not be educating anyone about the …

President Trump’s decision to close the PLO mission in Washington, cancel the visas of the Palestinian Ambassador and his family and order their bank accounts be closed – mark the PLO’s final humiliation for condemning Trump’s proposed peace plan before its contents have even been published. Strangely however the United …

Two major developments this past week could see a large part of Judaea and Samaria (West Bank) being reunified with Jordan – as existed between 1950 and 1967 – or becoming a Jordanian enclave – under President Trumps’ yet-to-be- announced “ultimate deal” intended to resolve the100 years-old Arab-Jewish conflict. Those developments …

My visit to the so-called ‘occupied West Bank’ in November 2017 has taken me some time  to get ‘down on paper’.  I just haven’t managed to find the time to do it. I was staying with a with a friend in Jerusalem who, when I mentioned I’d be interested in …

 Has the IDF brass forgotten that they are soldiers, charged with providing military solutions to physical threats to the nation’s security; not sociologists, tasked with diagnosing the societal ailments of its enemies?  …the IDF General Staff has been insisting there is only one thing Israel can do about Gaza. According …

One of the most misrepresented and emotionally loaded issues about Israel – and there is a smorgasbord to choose from – is its security barrier.  This is one of the issues that featured prominently in a recent programme on Maori TV (One World – He Ao Kotahi) where the narrator …

29 July 2017 saw an anti-Israel rally in Auckland’s Aotea Square that had been billed as “Alaqsa solidarity rally” to protest against Israel’s “security measures that require Palestinians to enter through metal detectors to go pray” (sic). These measures were removed by Israel before the day of the rally, after …

Vastly outnumbered, outgunned, besieged on every front and overwhelmed by the wealth and diplomatic influence of the Arab States, Israel faced its hour of maximum danger 50 years ago. It did so alone: 100,000 Egyptian troops, armour and artillery had amassed on Israel’s southern border; the UN peace-keeping force along …

As Prime Minister Netanyahu said: “Wow!” What a fantastic week for Israel, Australia and the Jewish People!!! Kol Hakavod to Prime Ministers Malcolm Turnbull and Benjamin Netanyahu – and the entire delegations on both sides – on a historic occasion replete with warmth, great friendship, shared values, understanding, intersections of …

When an Islamist drove his truck into a crowd in Nice last July, New Zealand Prime Minister John Key spoke out against the terror attack.  When an Islamist drove his truck into a crowd in Berlin last December, New Zealand Prime Minister Bill English spoke out against the terror attack.  …

Hey, you didn’t forget about The Occupation for a minute did you? No silly, we are not talking about  Northern Cyprus, Tibet, Crimea, Balochistan, Western Sahara, or any of the other occupations around the world that you never hear about. We are talking, of course, about the Palestinians and their …

FirstOneThrough There were several terrorist attacks against Israeli Jews in early October 2015.  The US State Department gave very tepid comments about the murders, especially compared to how the US reacted to the arson attacks that claimed the lives of three Palestinian Arabs in July 2015.  When one considers that …

Oxfam is a household name which claims to be committed to ending poverty worldwide.  Oxfam is an international confederation of 17 organizations working together with partners and local communities in more than 90 countries. One person in three in the world lives in poverty. Oxfam is determined to change that …

A timely piece posted with the permission of Edgar Davidson from the Blog of the same name. Please check it out. I read it a few years back when it was first published and is recommended as an excellent advocacy piece. One of the most pernicious and common lies propagated …

Jewish Left-Dwelling Americans are probably among the most well-meaning people on the entire planet. I have never seen such unrequited niceness in my entire life, actually. I suppose that I am just a tad biased, but I am willing to bet good shekels that American Jews are over-represented in the …