Camp David: The Tragedy of Errors

Mr. Malley, as Special Assistant to President Clinton for Arab-IsraeliAffairs, was a member of the US peace team and participated in the CampDavid summit. Mr. Agha has been involved in Palestinian affairs for morethan thirty years and during this period has had an active part inIsraeli- Palestinian relations. In accounts of what happened at the … Read more

The Terrible Arafat

All the existential problems of the State of Israel are now merging into one question: What todo with Yasser Arafat? Who doesn’t deal with this? Ministers and taxi-drivers, professors and fruit vendors,reserve generals and flight attendants, members of the Knesset and top models, settlers andTV entertainers, columnists and owners of market stands. Everybody who thinks … Read more

Oh, What a Wonderful Unity!

In all its 53 years, Israel has never been likethat it is now. Almost Tthe entire Israeli publicseems to have becomehas become a bunch flock of parrots. No matter who Whoever is talking- the seller of Fellafel fallafel or a professor ofhistory, a taxi driver or Our Political Correspondent, an army officer or a member … Read more

Hi, McCarthy!

Hi, Joe McCarthy, so you are back again. When you passed away you were generally despised, yourname has become a curse in many languages, including Hebrew. And now you have come to lifeagain, in all your sinister splendor, and in the State of Israel, out of all places. (If, as Isuspect, you were a hidden … Read more

A View from the Hill

Or: The Lies of Mr. Peres “One could save millions of words and mountains of paper, if one could bring a million Israelishere, It would change their outlook in a minute!” exclaimed a woman when she reached, worn outand breathing heavily, the top of the hill. The hill is called, in occupation-speak, “Palm’s Hill”. Very … Read more

Black Friday

Faisal al-Husseini was a very special person. A great Palestinian patriot, an undauntedfighter against the occupation, and at the same time an untiring activist for peace andconciliation between the two peoples of this country. Faisal was the personification of the best qualities of the Palestinian people, a nobleman inthe best sense of the word. His … Read more

The Russian Revolution

In May 1291, exactly 710 years ago, the last of the Crusaders were thrown from the sea-wall ofAcre into the sea. Yitzhak Shamir might have said: “The Muslims are the same Muslims, theCrusaders are the same Crusaders and the sea is the same sea.”* Paraphrasing Shamir’s famous saying: “The Arabs are the same Arabs, the … Read more

A Second Nakba?

I was giving a lecture last week to a group of Palestinian intellectuals and foreign diplomatsin East Jerusalem, when a Palestinian professor asked: “Do you think that a second Nakba ispossible?” I was going to answer with a categorical “No”. But suddenly I was seized by doubt: Was I lying tohim? Was I lying to … Read more

Declaration of Principles for Peace Agreement

(Draft proposal for Israeli-Palestinian Discussion) Version 7 / 13.5.01 Between the State of Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization, the Representative of the Palestinian People. Whereas both parties wish to end the historical conflict between them, establish peace and bring about a historical conciliation between the two nations, And whereas both parties wish to base … Read more

America! America!

or: The Height of Chutzpah “Chutzpah” is a Jewish word. It cannot be accurately translated. Some render it asbrazenness, gall. In many languages, the word is used in its original Hebrew’Yiddish form. The leaders of the Zionist Organization of America recently reached the very height ofChutzpah, when they demanded that the US Government abstain from … Read more