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IS IT THAT SIMPLE TO EXPLAIN, OR, JUST ONE SIDE OF THE STORY The Middle East conflict is framed as one of the most complex problems in the world. But, in reality, it's very simple. Israelis want to live in peace and are willing to accept a neighboring Palestinian state. And most Palestinians do not want Israel to exist. As Dennis Prager explains, this is really all you need to know. In 5 minutes, understand how Israel was founded, and how, since that auspicious day in 1948, its neighbors have tried to destroy it, again and again When I did my graduate studies at the Middle East Institute at Columbia University’s School of International Affairs, I took many courses on the question of the Middle East conflict. Semester after semester, we studied the Middle East conflict as if it was the most complex conflict in the world – when in fact, it is probably the easiest conflict in the world to explain. It may be the hardest to solve, but it is the easiest to explain.  In a nutshell, i...

WASHINGTON — Last year, Israeli Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Gabi Ashkenazi had no problem setting up meetings with top officials in the U.S. government. On his current trip to Washington, Ashkenazi sought to meet the administration of President Barack Obama, but most officials were unavailable. Diplomatic sources said Ashkenazi failed to obtain access to any Cabinet member, including Defense Secretary Robert Gates. The Israeli military chief, who sought to discuss the Iranian nuclear threat, won't even meet his counterpart, Adm. Michael Mullen, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. "The administration is sending a very clear message to Israel, and this is we want to talk about Palestine and not Iran," a diplomat who has been following U.S.-Israel relations said. On March 12, Ashkenazi left for a five-day visit to the United States meant to lobby the Obama administration to abandon the planned U.S. dialogue with Iran. Ashkenazi, scheduled to meet with the American-...

Concerned voices have been heard in the Muqata in Ramallah over the past few days: Senior Palestinian Authority and Fatah officials are speaking openly of the end of an era if an agreement to free abducted IDF soldier Gilad Shalit is reached. Palestinian officials say a Shalit deal would bring about early elections in the territories, and Hamas would win again - but this time it would win the Palestinian presidential election, too. Israel would then be forced to deal with a Hamas-controlled Palestinian Authority in both the West Bank and Gaza Strip, they say. The latest poll from the Jerusalem Media and Communication Centre conducted in the territories shows the recent war between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip afforded the Islamic organization unprecedented popularity. Advertisement For the first time, Hamas is leading Fatah in the polls: 28.6 percent for Hamas compared to 27.9 percent for Fatah. Despite the euphoria in Israel over the Gaza operation, on the Palestinian side at ...

This week the death toll in Gaza passed the 1,000 mark, after three weeks of Israeli air and ground attacks. But surprisingly, no one has reported an even more appalling statistic: that there are some 1.5 million injured Palestinians in Gaza. How is is possible that such an astounding figure could have passed the world's media by? The reason apparently is that they have been relying on the highly unreliable statistics provided by official Palestinian sources. It appears that the Palestinian health ministry only records as wounded those Gazans who need to stay in hospital because of the severity of their injuries. That means they only count the more than 4,500 Gazans who have suffered injuries such as severe burns from exploding Israeli phosphorus shells; shrapnel wounds from artillery rounds; broken or lost limbs from aerial bombardment; bullet wounds; physical trauma from falling building debris; and so on. But in fact there is another, far more reasonable standard for assess...

The youngest terrorist in the world Age: 2 months before birth Name Not allowing him the opportunity to Zionist bullet Arabs name Citizenship:He was supposed to be Palestinians ِ Adress: From the mother's womb to the grave These data fetus, who was assassinated by Zionist hatred, we give to all the organs of American and British intelligence and international, so stop searching (the small terrorist was assassinated) Watch with us the pictures after the terrorist assassination With greetings of American democracy and the civilized world who are protecting the world from terrorists

" We are all Hamas, " screamed a scrawny Mauritanian, repeatedly, as he determinedly drew his face closer to a TV camera. Behind him, thousands more tunefully chanted similar words, chants that were heard in different Arabic dialects, in fact in many different languages all across the globe. Yet, Israel, somehow is claiming victory in the media war, which it calculatedly unleashed weeks before its most violent attack on Gaza yet. Thousands have been reportedly killed and wounded in little more than a week, starting Dec. 27, in the tiny stretch of land (roughly 140 square miles), yet densely populated Gaza Strip of 1.5 million people. " Whenever Israel is bombing, it is hard to explain our position to the world," said Avi Pazner, former Israeli ambassador to Italy and France and "one of the officials drafted in to present Israel's case to the world media," according to The Jewish Chronicle. "But at least this time everything was ready and in...

Photographic evidence has emerged that proves that Israel has been using controversial white phosphorus shells during its offensive in Gaza, despite official denials by the Israel Defence Forces. There is also evidence that the rounds have injured Palestinian civilians, causing severe burns. The use of white phosphorus against civilians is prohibited under international law. The Times has identified stockpiles of white phosphorus (WP) shells from high-resolution images taken of Israel Defence Forces (IDF) artillery units on the Israeli-Gaza border this week. The pale blue 155mm rounds are clearly marked with the designation M825A1, an American-made WP munition. The shell is an improved version with a more limited dispersion of the phosphorus, which ignites on contact with oxygen, and is being used by the Israeli gunners to create a smoke screen on the ground. The rounds, which explode into a shower of burning white streaks, were first identified by The Times at the weekend when they we...

If any doubt remained that the United Nations is in need of drastic reform, it has to have been evaporated by the Security Council's "activities" since the beginning of Israel's brutal offensive against the Gaza Strip on December 27 . During this time, the council has failed utterly to act in a manner befitting the urgency due a civilian bloodbath, repeatedly delaying action aimed at ending the crisis and initially producing a weak "statement" when a firm resolution was obviously required . Representatives of various member states have alternately sulked and dithered, leaked nasty comments about one another to the media, threatened to walk out, and even sought additional delays. And after a decidedly watery resolution finally was arrived at late Thursday night in New York, both Israel and Gaza's Hamas leadership dismissed it within hours . For an organization whose resolutions are known to languish for decades awaiting implementation, wasting a couple of...

Israel's military has bombed whatever stands, lives and moves in Gaza, including the UN facilities and aid. No other state in the world has behaved, without facing dire diplomatic consequences, in such a way. The Israeli state which, although located in the Middle East, claims a 'western' civilizational link and heritage has surely fallen short of it. The Israeli government has failed totally in its actions: Hamas is still able to rocket blast South (and possibly North ) Israel, the Israeli military actions have killed 130 'militants' sacrificing about 630 civilians, it has prevented the rescue of the injured, causing the Red Cross to condemn the actions , and has attacked UN convoys (a "deja vu" since the Israeli army has a certain preference for "mistakenly" bombing the UN). Among the disturbing facts of the Israeli Kadima government is that 257 children have been killed and 1,080 wounded . It is a massacre, and one which only one 'de...

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert says Israel will continue its offensive against Hamas militants in the Gaza Strip, despite a U.N. Security Council resolution calling for an immediate ceasefire. Hamas leaders also dismissed the measure, saying it did not take Palestinian interests into account. The resolution, approved late Thursday by a 14-0 vote, calls for a truce leading to the full withdrawal of Israeli forces. It also demands an end to Hamas rocket attacks and calls for the unimpeded distribution of humanitarian aid. The United States abstained from the vote, saying it wants to see the outcome of mediation efforts by Egypt. In Gaza, Israeli warplanes carried out at least 50 air strikes overnight and early today, killing at least 12 Palestinians. Hamas also continued firing rockets into southern Israel. Meanwhile, a U.N. report issued today said 30 Palestinians were killed earlier this week when the Israeli army moved more than 100 civilians into a house, warned them to stay insi...

The mainstream US media has been careful to balance images of Gazan suffering with those of Israelis, leading to accusations it is not reflecting the unequal death toll The images of two women on the front page of an edition of The Washington Post last week illustrates how mainstream US media has been reporting Israel’s war on Gaza . On the left was a Palestinian mother who had lost five children. On the right was a nearly equally sized picture of an Israeli woman who was distressed by the fighting, according to the caption. As the Palestinian woman cradled the dead body of one child, another infant son, his face blackened and disfigured with bruises, cried beside her. The Israeli woman did not appear to be wounded in any way but also wept. Arab frustration To understand the frustration often felt in the Arab world over US media coverage, one only needs to imagine the same front page had the situation been reversed. If an Israeli woman had lost five daughters in a Palestinian attack, ...

Israel has held a unique position among “ civilized ” nations, in that it has been allowed to control the international debate about itself and its treatment of the controlled Palestinian territories, by forcing diplomats and the Western press to use a special vocabulary of redefined words. Here is where Israeli “Hasbara, ” the official government crafted version of events, comes into play. Hasbara defines its own “ reality ,” meant for consumption by the Goy world, intending to give the impression that Israel wants conveyed. Consider the propaganda effort by the IDF to pass-off an attack video of an Israeli missile striking a truck full of oxygen tanks as militants unloading Qassam rockets. A video grab released by the Israeli Defence Force and broadcast on Sky News shows an Israeli warplane targeting a truck on December 30, 2008 at an unknown location in the Gaza strip.Photo: AFP The Israelis obviously knew that they were watching bottles being rolled out of a flatbed, not winged r...