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
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
Why those cities? Because I’ve heard that the “Defund the Police” movement has managed to get those places to discuss the idea of cutting police budgets. The entire concept of trying to achieve gains against racism by cutting the budgets of the people who are expected to uphold the laws is simply mind-boggling to me. … More I’m Glad I Don’t Live in Minneapolis, Seattle, or New York City.
The Black Lives Matter movement is very much in the news all over the world. Racism is a terrible thing, and if a policeman kills someone in the line of duty it needs to be investigated. But is that what is really happening in the US? I’d like to look at few aspects of the … More America – Gone Crazy?
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
This week saw the United States finally making public all the details of The Trump Plan for solving the Problem of Peace between Israel and the Palestinians. I’ll be writing about this some more in later pots, but this one is going to discuss just one part of that plan. It was a glaring omission … More Deal of the Century – Part 1
Wetherhorn 