He looked like a mummy: face frozen, body averted, no eye contact with the other person. ShimonPeres meeting Yasser Arafat. Next to him sat the general who was sent to oversee him, so that hewould not talk, God forbid, about solutions, political progress, a peace process. Sharon andthe Chief-of-Staff allowed him to talk only about … Read more
After the smoke has cleared, the dust has settled down and the initial fury blown over,humankind will wake up and realize a new fact: there is no safe place on earth. A handful of suicide-bombers has brought the United States to a standstill, caused thePresident to hide in a bunker under a far-away mountain, dealt … Read more
Were a student to present Professor Shlomo Ben Ami with the paper that was published in his namein the HaAretz supplement (14.9.01), the professor would have handed it back with thecomments: “Grade: 50%. Large holes in the argument. Many internal contradictions. Noconnection between the facts and the conclusions. No support for the main argument. Tryagain!” … Read more
“The Israeli army does not have a state!” Ariel Sharon declared this week, after theChief-of-Staff tried to create a fait accompli behind his back. I am not sure that Sharon knows where this phrase comes from. It was coined by the Count Honore deMirabeau, one of the instigators of the French revolution, in his essay … Read more
Dr Tony Klug , an international relationsspecialist, has been writing about the Middle East for many years. His Ph.D thesis was on Isra el’s rule over the West Bank. He is co-chair of the Council for Jewish-Palestinian Dialogue in the UK and has served as head of international development at Amnesty International FOREWORD: A major … Read more
So who won this battle? The classic answer is: the winner is the side which remains on the battlefield after thefighting is over. By this measure, the Palestinians won. But this was not an ordinary battle, and this is not an ordinary war, but rather the armeduprising of a conquered people against the conqueror, so … Read more
Over 2000 years ago the rulers of China found a remedy against the intrusion of foreigninvaders: they erected an immense wall, 2500 km long (approximately the distance betweenJerusalem and Rome), 16 m high, 8 m wide, with countless towers. Now a band of witch-doctors has come along and offer us a similar patent remedy: “UnilateralSeparation”. … Read more
A middle-aged man approaches the army checkpoint. Three bored soldiers look at him. One,probably the one in charge, who was standing two or three meters away, comes up to him and slapshis face. A few hours later this was shown on television in Israel and all the Arab countries. It appearsthat the beaten man is … Read more
Forget about the battle of Negba. Forget about the battle of Ammunition Hill. Forget about theEntebbe raid. All these are overshadowed by the latest exploits of our forces. Songs will besung about them, victory albums will proclaim their glory. In a daring action, in the middle of the night, the elite units of the border … Read more
Everyone who has seen crime movies knows them: the good cop and the bad cop. The bad cop (say Gene Hackman) starts to interrogate the suspect. He shouts, curses,threatens, hits him. At the right moment, the good cop (say Clint Eastwood) enters. “How do you dare to behave like this?” he shouts at the bad … Read more