In his new book Jared Kushner claims that separating the Territorial dispute from the Jerusalem issue was a key element leading to the Abraham Accords. Too bad he didn’t take his thinking one step further and also break the refugee issue away from the territorial dispute. The whole world (including the Arabs) knows that the … More One More Tiny Step
Housing prices in Israel, where we live, have risen by a large percentage this past year. It’s probably not just a local phenomenon. The COVID pandemic has resulted in prices for materials going up. Also labor costs have risen. The de facto failure of the Palestinian Authority to implement any unified vaccination program means that … More The Best Nest
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
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
The UN renewed the mandate for the UNRWA on 16 Nov,2019. What does that mean? It means that for the next three years there will be no action taken to change the status of about 5 and a half million people who are identified as “Palestinian refugees”. I’ve written about this before. I believe it … More UNRWA Mandate Renewed
UNIFIL (UNITED NATIONS INTERIM FORCE IN LEBANON) just had it’s annual mandate renewed on August 29th. The organization currently comprises some 10,500 personnel from over 40 countries. Participation ranges from over 1300 Indonesians to single individuals from several different countries. What they have in common is an assignment to try to keep the Lebanon-Israel border … More UNIFIL is still with us
The latest events in our neighborhood have an almost surrealistic aura about them. I mentioned previously that Nasrallah and Hizbullah in Lebanon were making threats. I also beleive taht when Nasrallah threatens something. he intends to make it happen. Well, maybe not this time. According to a report that surfaced in the London Times there … More …And Getting Burned
The watchdogs for the agreement on Iran limiting storage and production of nuclear materials have confirmed that Iran is violating the agreement. The Iranian government has confirmed this. This US pulled out of the agreement because it was not an effective deterrent for Iran to proceed with the construction of a nuclear weapon. The iranian … More Iran – “Playing with Fire”
After 25 years the observer force of 64 members of TIPH will be packing their bags and going home. TIPH stands for Temporary International Presence in Hebron. It was established in 1994 to try to keep down violence between the Arab and Jewish communities in the city.. The current observers come from Italy, Turkey, Norway, … More End of an Era
Wetherhorn 