Palestine

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Mitchell Considered for Mideast Post

Former senator's portfolio could take chunk out of Clinton's at State

(Newser) - Former Sen. George Mitchell, who led a 2000 commission examining Middle Eastern violence, is being considered as special envoy to the region by the Obama administration, the New York Times reports. The appointment of such a high-profile negotiator would signal Obama’s seriousness about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, but could deprive...

Israel Begins 'Gradual Withdrawal' From Gaza

(Newser) - Israel began pulling troops out of the Gaza Strip today after Hamas echoed the call for a ceasefire, the Times of London reports. As troops started leaving, Gazans came out of their homes to survey the damage. Mosque loudspeakers declared "victory," but Palestinians appeared too stunned to...

Israel Quiets Guns in Gaza
 Israel Quiets 
 Guns in Gaza 
updated

Israel Quiets Guns in Gaza

Goals achieved, PM says; Hamas rejects ceasefire and makes demands

(Newser) - Israel ended its 3-week assault on Gaza today by enacting a unilateral ceasefire that Hamas has vowed to ignore, Reuters reports. Israeli leaders voted today to halt the offensive, which has killed nearly 1,200 people and incited strong reactions worldwide, MSNBC reports. “Goals have been achieved and even...

Israel Nears Decision on Gaza Ceasefire

Cabinet may approve unilateral move at meeting tomorrow

(Newser) - Israel’s security cabinet will meet tomorrow to discuss, and likely approve, a unilateral ceasefire in Gaza, the Jerusalem Post reports. The move comes after negotiations in Egypt and the signing of an agreement with the US designed to halt smuggling of arms into Gaza. The ceasefire does not include...

Bin Laden Urges Jihad Against Israel

(Newser) - Osama bin Laden today urged Muslims to launch a jihad against Israel and condemned Arab governments as allies of the Jewish state, the AP reports. In a new message aimed at harnessing anger in the Mideast over the Gaza offensive, bin Laden spoke in an audiotape posted on Islamic militant...

Israeli Pummels Gaza, Pauses
 Israeli Pummels Gaza, Pauses 

Israeli Pummels Gaza, Pauses

Air strikes hit 40 targets overnight

(Newser) - Israel continued to pound Gaza last night and this morning as air strikes hit 40 targets and killed 15 Hamas fighters, CNN reports. Attacks were halted for the 3-hour pause this afternoon to allow Gaza residents to restock supplies, the third such pause in the two-week-old conflict. Health workers say...

Israel's Only Option: Destroy Hamas Entirely
Israel's Only Option: Destroy Hamas Entirely
OPINION

Israel's Only Option: Destroy Hamas Entirely

Krauthammer: Olmert has a second chance to defeat extremism

(Newser) - There are only two possible outcomes of the war in Gaza, writes Charles Krauthammer: the complete destruction of Hamas or an internationally supervised truce à la Lebanon. Under immense diplomatic pressure, Israel is hinting it will accept the French-Egyptian ceasefire plan. That would be "a terrible mistake," writes...

Cynicism Key to Israel's Arsenal
Cynicism Key to Israel's Arsenal 
OPINION

Cynicism Key to Israel's Arsenal

Aid to Palestinians 'not unlike raising animals for slaughter,' as Tel Aviv acts ever the victim

(Newser) - “The promulgation of a hyper-nationalist ethos” in Israeli media coverage of the Gaza situation doesn’t surprise Neve Gordon, he writes in the Nation—what’s unsettling is the cynical war ethic emerging around humanitarian aid. As one reporter explains, Israel gives assistance to Palestinians during times of war...

Hamas: We're Winning the Sympathy War

Group sees political gains in the face of casualties

(Newser) - The casualties—most of them civilians—are appalling, but Hamas still sees itself coming out the winner in Israel’s devastating Gaza offensive, Time reports. In a war of “perception,” write Jamil Hamad and Tony Karon, Hamas is reaping sympathy from the wide distribution of images of suffering...

Gazans Hunker Down in 'Worst' Time of All
 Gazans Hunker Down 
 in 'Worst' Time of All 
COMMENTARY

Gazans Hunker Down in 'Worst' Time of All

Refugees arrive in city with horror stories

(Newser) - Lentils and bread nearly are all Safwat al-Kahlout can offer the 20 relatives holed up in his powerless Gaza City apartment, he writes in the Christian Science Monitor. As Israeli tanks roll through the city's outskirts, family members have fled inward to his flat. "I took my clothes and...

'The Israelis Killed My Father'
 'The Israelis Killed My Father' 
OPINION

'The Israelis Killed My Father'

(Newser) - Fares Akram’s family farm was a small “beloved place,” so close to the Israeli border that they’d always feared it would be hit by errant rockets launched by Hamas, he writes in the Independent. Instead, it was blown up by an Israeli bomb while Akram’s...

Israel Waging a Heartbreaking, Stupid War
Israel Waging a Heartbreaking, Stupid War
OPINION

Israel Waging a Heartbreaking, Stupid War

Only 'a Marshall Plan' can bring lasting peace, writes rabbi

(Newser) - Israel's push to wipe out Hamas via military action "is understandable, but stupid," writes Rabbi Michael Lerner, editor of the Jewish progressive magazine Tikkun. While Israel clearly must defend itself, "the kind of response matters"—and the killing of Gazan civilians is "a crime...

Middle East Fumes Over Obama's Gaza Silence
Middle East Fumes Over Obama's Gaza Silence
analysis

Middle East Fumes Over Obama's Gaza Silence

Arabs and Muslims disappointed after 'promise of change'

(Newser) - Barack Obama's studied silence on the Gaza attacks—there’s only one president at a time, and so on—isn’t playing well in the Middle East, writes Simon Tisdall in the Guardian. “Foreign wars don't wait for Washington inaugurations,” Tisdall notes. Many Arabs and Muslims “cannot...

Will Israel Win Out, or Fire Up Its Enemies?

Israel's success—or failure—could prompt range of scenarios

(Newser) - Invading the Gaza Strip may boost Israel's leverage, shoring up alliances and isolating Iran—but that's optimistic, writes Steven Lee Myers in the New York Times. President Mahmoud Abbas could be the one isolated—from his own people—as surviving Hamas leaders seethe and militants plot revenge across the Arab...

'Lockstep' Support of Israel Doesn't Represent US

(Newser) - You wouldn't know it to hear our political leaders talk, but the country is deeply divided over Israel’s attacks on Gaza, writes Glenn Greenwald on Salon. Most Republican voters support the action, while most Democratic ones do not. Yet Democratic bigwigs such as Pelosi and Reid offer "blind,...

Israel Has the Clear Moral High Ground in Gaza
Israel Has the Clear Moral High Ground in Gaza
OPINION

Israel Has the Clear Moral High Ground in Gaza

Really, it's all totally cut and dried. Promise. What?

(Newser) - Many geopolitical conflicts are “morally complicated,” writes Charles Krauthammer in the Washington Post, but “the Israel-Gaza war is not.” Israel wants only peace, while Hamas wants only the eradication of Israel. The Israelis are so scrupulous that they contact enemy noncombatants in advance to warn them...

Israel Weighs Truce Backed by Ground Threat

Barak favors ultimatum

(Newser) - Israel is considering halting its Gaza offensive temporarily to give Hamas militants an opening to halt rocket fire, an Israeli defense official said today, but with the threat of a ground offensive if a ceasefire does not hold. Ehud Barak will raise the proposal during a meeting tomorrow of Israel's...

Anti-Israeli Protests Spread Across Middle East

(Newser) - Anti-Israel protesters gathered in the Arab world and beyond today to protest Israel’s bombing campaign against Gaza, the AP reports. At the largest protest, in Lebanon, tens of thousands of Hezbollah supporters listened as the group’s leader warned Israel of the futility of a ground invasion. "Israel's...

Israel Attacks Serve as Reminder of Might
Israel Attacks Serve as Reminder of Might
analysis

Israel Attacks Serve as Reminder of Might

Leaders feared being seen as 'paper tiger'

(Newser) - Israel’s overwhelming strikes on Hamas are in part an effort to flex the country’s muscles and strike fear in the hearts of its enemies, Ethan Bronner writes in the New York Times. “There has been a nagging sense of uncertainty in the last couple years of whether...

Israelis Mass at Gaza Border After Fresh Strikes

Gaza death toll hits 300

(Newser) - Israeli troops massed at the border today as Gaza's death toll hit at least 300 following fresh Israeli air strikes overnight. Bombs decimated a mosque and family home—reportedly killing 5 children—as well as a university Israeli officials said contained explosives labs that aid Hamas' insurgency, CNN reports. Israeli...

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