Israel emerged from a week plus of trading bombings for rocket fire with nothing really having changed. The whole game has all the dressing of a planned and purposeful action by Hamas. They knew Israel would not invade the Gaza area with ground troops and that Israeli air strikes would be carefully controlled to minimize … More What a Sad Result
The sky in Southern Israel during the day is crisscrossed with the exhaust trails of dozens of rockets launched by Hamas in Gaza and aimed at Israeli towns and villages. There are other exhaust trails left by the Israeli missile defense system interceptors fired from the Iron Dome batteries that protect those towns. Where the … More How Long is This Going to Continue?
In the USA there has been a lot of talk about how newly inaugurated President Biden will deal with his campaign promise to rejoin a diplomatic deal to keep Iran from having nuclear weapons. I decided to throw out a few thoughts about this and see what some of you who read my blog might … More Yemen – Thinking About a Different Part of the Middle East.
We’re very preoccupied with Corona virus. It seems the rest of the world is, too. Nobody hears much from India or Iran or Turkey. They’re busy with the virus. But there are other Arab countries around us that have different things on their minds. The United Arab Emirates are on their way to making a … More And Meanwhile, In the Arab World…
As always, the Middle East, where I live, is full of “interesting” news. The most important item, in my view, came a few days ago. The United Arab Emirates decided to make a normal peace treaty with Israel. The two sides are formalizing relations and looking into various mutually beneficial trade , commerce, and health … More Extortion Politics
One of the things one does when confined to quarters by COVID19 is to rummage through drawers and shelves. I was doing that when I came across a letter of thanks I received over 30 years ago for a job well done. I was the team leader/project manager for a software project for CITICORP bank … More I Saved This Letter
The Islamic Jihad sent two “soldiers” to plant an explosive device on the Israeli side of the Gaza line. Israeli forces saw them, opened fire, and killed them. This has resulted in a series of escalations on both sides. The terrorist group is allowed to operate freely in the Gaza strip by the Hamas governing … More Good Neighbors?
I mentioned the “Palestinian ” refugee problem previously. This is one aspect of the ongoing argument that appears to be easy to remove from the discussion. The Palestinian Authority won’t like it, but they have a lot of things they don’t like. Their position has always been that the only solution is to return all … More Deal of the Century – part 4
A major obstacle to reaching an accommodation between Israel and the Palestinians has always been Jerusalem. The Palestinians have claimed that all or part of the city is theirs and that it is their capital. The fact that they actually run their services from Ramallah doesn’t affect that claim. Even the UN partition resolution of … More Deal of the Century – part 3
One of the red-line conditions of the Palestinian Authority has always been the return of all “Palestinian refugees” to their original homes. But who is a “Palestinian refugee”? The original definition was set to include anyone who had lived in Palestine between June 1946 and May 1948. This conveniently eliminated the problem of Arab refugees … More Deal of the Century – part 2
Wetherhorn 