16 October 2007 The Corpse Twitches: The Middle East “Peace Process” By Gwynne Dyer “We are at the beginning of a process,” said US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice after her four-day tour of the countries closely involved in the Arab-Israeli confrontation. But the “peace process” really began with the Oslo accords in 1993, and …
14 June 2007 The Islamic Republic of Gaza By Gwynne Dyer “I like this violence…It means other Palestinians are resisting Hamas,” said a US official some months ago to Alvaro de Soto, the UN envoy to the Middle East, according to de Soto’s confidential “End of Mission Report,” leaked to “The Guardian” newspaper last week. …
31 May 2007 The War of Six Days and Forty Years By Gwynne Dyer On the 5th of June, 1967, Israel launched a pre-emptive war against Egypt, Syria and Jordan. In six days it annihilated the Arab air forces, defeated the Arab armies, and conquered the Sinai Peninsula, East Jerusalem, the West Bank, the Gaza …
16 November 2006 Israel: A Turning Point By Gwynne Dyer “An equation has to be created in which it is not worth it for the Palestinians to fire,” said Eli Moyal, mayor of Sderot, after rockets fired from the Gaza Strip killed a 57-year-old woman and severely injured two young men (one of whom lost …
18 August 2005 Sharon’s Strategy Succeeds (For Now) By Gwynne Dyer Asher Weisgan, the Israeli settler who murdered three Palestinians at random in the West Bank settlement of Shiloh on Wednesday, was clearly very upset by the forced evacuation of the Jewish settlements in the Gaza Strip. Prime Minister Ariel Sharon called him a “Jewish …
22 July 2006 Israel and Lebanon: Good From Evil? By Gwynne Dyer Can good come from evil? Is it possible that out of the current carnage in Lebanon, the Gaza Strip and northern Israel could come a sober recognition on all sides that victory is impossible and that compromise is necessary? It would be nice. …
13 July 2006 Disproportionate Force 2 By Gwynne Dyer “The objective of the operation is clear to no-one — not the government, not the prime minister, not the Israel Defence Force with all its commanders,” wrote journalist Hagay Huberman on Thursday in the conservative Israeli newspaper Hatzofe. “No-one tried to think 20 steps ahead. When …
7 July 2006 Disproportionate Force By Gwynne Dyer The Europeans have rediscovered their backbones. “The EU condemns the loss of lives caused by disproportionate use of force by the Israeli Defence Forces and the humanitarian crisis it has aggravated,” said Finnish Prime Minister Matti Vanhanen, whose country holds the EU’s rotating presidency, on Friday. The …
23 March 2006 After the Israeli Election By Gwynne Dyer “It’s a trade-off,” said Dror Etkes, director of the Israeli organisation Settlement Watch, just after Prime Minister Ariel Sharon carried out the dramatic withdrawal from the Jewish settlements in the Gaza Strip last August. “The Gaza Strip for the settlement blocks; the Gaza Strip for …
21 November 2005 Israel: The Resurrection of Rabin By Gwynne Dyer Can the old war criminal really want to end his political career by making peace with the Palestinians? Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has broken with the hard-right Likud Party that he helped to found three decades ago and is starting a new centrist …