Middle East Watch

475 Article

• Another War, Another Defeat

  2009, by John Mearsheimer
  Israelis and their American supporters claim that Israel learned its lessons well from the disastrous 2006 Lebanon war and has devised a winning strategy for the present war against Hamas. Of course, when a ceasefire comes, Israel will declare victory. Don’t believe it. Israel has foolishly started another war it cannot win. The campaign in Gaza is said to have two objectives: 1) to put an end to the rockets and mortars that Palestinians have been firing into southern Israel since it (…)  continue
  

• Posturing and laughter as victims rot

  20 janvier 2009, par Robert Fisk
  The front page of the Beirut daily As-Safir said it all yesterday. Across the top was a terrible photograph of the bloated body of a Palestinian man newly discovered in the ruins of his home while two male members of his family shrieked and roared their grief. Below, at half the size, was a photograph from Israel of Western leaders joking with Ehud Olmert, the Israeli Prime Minister. Olmert was roaring with laughter. Silvio Berlusconi, arms on the back of Olmert’s shoulders, was also joshing (…)  suite
  

• Proche-Orient : le rôle médiateur des Etats-Unis en question

  22 janvier 2009, par Bertrand Badie
  Pedro : Dans quelle mesure la communauté internationale est responsable de la guerre de Gaza ? Le fait d’avoir rejeté les résultats du scrutin de 2006 remporté par le Hamas ne constitue-il pas une faute grave ? Le précédent du FIS en Algérie vainqueur des élections de 1988 et aussitôt rejeté par les militaires soutenus par la communauté internationale provoquant la guerre civile que l’on connaît n’a pas servi ? Bertrand Badie : Très certainement. On peut d’ailleurs, avec profit, distinguer (…)  suite
  

• عباس.. الأول مع مرتبة (القرف)!

  بقلم د. محمد العوضي
  أضحكني بالأمس حديث استمعت إليه (صدفة) لسيادة، رئيس (الدولة) الفلسطينية محمود عباس على قناة (العربية) اتهم فيه حركة حماس بإفساد موسم حج أهل قطاع غزة، وقال إن منع الحج لم يحدث في التاريخ سوى ثلاث مرات فقط؛ مرة في زمن كفار قريش ومرة في عهد القرامطة وأخيرا في عهد حركة حماس!! تأملت في هذا الكلام الغريب لشخص حفل تاريخه السياسي بالعديد من (انجازات الخزي) فكانت السابقة الأولى في التاريخ وليست الثالثة (كما يتهم حماس). ودعني أذكرك يا( سيادة) الرئيس ببعض تلك (الأوائل)!! التي تمت في عهدك.. أول مرة (…)  تتمة
  

• The Arab Peace Initiative

  2002,
  The Council of Arab States at the Summit Level at its 14th Ordinary Session, Reaffirming the resolution taken in June 1996 at the Cairo Extra-Ordinary Arab Summit that a just and comprehensive peace in the Middle East is the strategic option of the Arab countries, to be achieved in accordance with international legality, and which would require a comparable commitment on the part of the Israeli government, Having listened to the statement made by his royal highness Prince (…)  continue
  

• The Boss Has Gone Mad

  19 January 2009, by Uri Avnery
  169 years before the Gaza War, Heinrich Heine wrote a premonitory poem of 12 lines, under the title “To Edom”. The German-Jewish poet was talking about Germany, or perhaps all the nations of Christian Europe. This is what he wrote (in my rough translation): For a thousand years and more We have had an understanding You allow me to breathe I accept your crazy raging Sometimes, when the days get darker Strange moods come upon you Till you decorate your claws (…)  continue
  

• Time for a New Divestment Campaign

  19 January 2009, by KEVIN ALEXANDER GRAY
  Barack Obama’s inauguration coming as we celebrate of Martin Luther King Day predictably draws linkages between the two. Many use Obama’s election to claim a realization of the “dream.” Others mumble something about a post-racial America. I suspect that King, if alive, would reject such nonsense. Although when asked “who he thought King would support” in the 2008 primary campaign Obama made a good case for answering “Nobody,” it is possible that King may have supported Obama. King was a (…)  continue
  

• The Self-Defense of Suicide

  1 January 2009, by Oren Ben-Dor
  Echoing Lebanon 2006, the people of Gaza are being butchered by murderous pilots of a murderous state. Ground forces will soon butcher many more. This widely-expected repetition of Israel’s large scale violence is carried out after a long process that was triggered when Israel unilaterally cleared its settlements and ground presence from Gaza only to create what has been described as a remote-controlled human zoo. Israel has maintained total control over Gaza’s borders, its air and sea (…)  continue
  

• Board of Deputies of British Jews Cancels Sunday’s Solidarity Rally

  9 January 2009,
  The Board of Deputies and the Jewish Leadership Council, in consultation with a coalition of prominent organisations in the Anglo-Jewish community, have decided to cancel the planned Israel Solidarity Rally, due to occur on Sunday 11th of January. This decision has been taken after intense discussions within the community, due to a feeling that such a demonstration would not be in accordance with the Board’s wish to bring the conflict to an immediate conclusion. It was thought that the (…)  continue
  

• Opération "Plomb durci" : quelle "victoire" pour Israël ?

  19 janvier 2009,
  "L’opération Plomb durci a atteint ses objectifs et même au-delà", a assuré le premier ministre israélien, Ehoud Olmert après l’annonce d’un cessez-le-feu israélien unilatéral. Le quotidien populaire Maariv a titré en "une", sur la "Victoire". Les tankistes de Tsahal, juchés sur leurs Merkava ont fait le "V" de la victoire en quittant leurs positions avancées. Mais le cessez-le-feu israélien était à peine entré en vigueur que des roquettes tombaient sur Israël, avant la trêve du Hamas. (…)  suite