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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...

Banksy , a quasi anonymous graffiti artist from Bristol England, has been making a name for himself on the British and international circuit. Some view his artwork merely as graffiti while others consider his work to be a comment on present-day society, politics, and life in general. Banksy graffiti in Palestine is the latest addition to his ever expanding global presence, and what a perfect place to make statements about political strife via urban work. Israeli West Bank Wall Since Israel became a nation, a constant state of unrest or even armed conflict has become the norm between Israel and Palestine. What better place could Banksy choose to offer societal and political statements than on one of the most famous walls in the world, the Palestinian Wall, more commonly called the Israeli West Bank Barrier? This wall serves as a political symbol and functions to separate the two conflicting opponents. Some Israelis claim that the wall gives protection against possible terrorism fr...

Inside Story - AlJazeera - 16 July 09 A group of soldiers who took part in Israel's assault in Gaza in December and January say widespread abuses were committed against civilians under "permissive" rules of engagement. Inside Story discusses whether Israel did commit war crimes and if it did, can those responsible be held accountable.

Friday, 03 July 2009 09:20 Dan Lieberman Three huge granite stones rest comfortably on the top of Midbar Sinai Street, in Givat Havatzim, Jerusalem's northernmost district. Cut to specification, the imposing stones represent one of several preparations by the Temple Mount and Land of Israel Faithful Movement's to erect a Third Temple on the Haram al-Sharif/Temple Mount. Since the Islamic Wafq owns and controls all the property on the Haram al-Sharif, by what means can these stones be transferred to the Temple Mount and how can a Temple be constructed there? Not by any legal means. The stones are a provocation, which the Israel government refuses to halt. Neglect and passivity lead to a belief that an eventual Muslim reaction to the increasing provocations will give Israel an excuse to seize total control of the Holy Basin – the ultimate of the properties that Israel intends to incorporate into a greater Jerusalem. For decades, Israeli authorities have spoken of a united Jerusal...

It will go down in history, along with the Oslo Accord and the Camp David treaty, another historic speech of vague validations and vows to break. Cowering to U.S. pressure, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said just about nothing in his much awaited foreign policy speech at Bar Ilan University on Sunday evening, when he called for immediate peace talks without preconditions and a Palestinian state stripped of military capabilities. No preconditions from the Palestinians, Netanyahu meant to say. Israel, on the other hand, is free to scold its neighbor for starting this conflict and delaying a viable final settlement by refusing to recognize it as a Jewish state. No preconditions, but the Palestinian Authority must first topple Hamas or at least cut off all contact. No preconditions, except these conditions. It is impossible to hold peace negotiations without preconditions. Such diplomacy is subversive procrastination. Both sides of this conflict have demands, but rather than open up ne...

By Haaretz Service and News Agencies The Palestinian Authority on Sunday criticized Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's highly anticipated foreign policy speech, in which he called for immediate peace talks and endorsed the creation of Palestinian state without military capabilities. An aide to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said that the speech "sabotages" regional peace efforts, due to Netanyahu's refusal to accept an influx of Palestinian refugees into Israel and his unwillingness to compromise on the status of Jerusalem. "Netanyahu's remarks have sabotaged all initiatives, paralysed all efforts being made and challenges the Palestinian, Arab and American positions," said Nabil Abu Rudeinah. He noted Netanyahu's demand that Jerusalem be the undivided capital of Israel and that Palestinian refugees not be allowed into Israel: "This will not lead to complete and just peace," Abu Rudeinah said. "His remarks are not enough and wi...

Why does Israel have a right to exist, but Palestine doesn't? This is the question of our time. For 60 years Israelis have been stealing Palestine from Palestinians . There are maps available on the Internet and in Israeli publications showing the shrinkage over time of what was once Palestine into what Palestine is today — a small number of unconnected ghettos or bantustans. Palestine became "the occupied territory" from which Palestinians were ejected and Israeli settlements built for "settlers." Jordan, Syria and Lebanon are full of refugee camps in which Palestinians driven off their lands by Israeli force have been living for decades. Driving people off their land is strictly illegal under international law, but Israel has been getting away with it for decades. Gaza is a concentration camp of 1.5 million Palestinians who were driven from their homes and villages and collected in the Gaza Ghetto. The United Nations Relief and Works Agency was created 6...

NOUAKCHOTT: Mauritania has called back its ambassador to Israel for consultations, Mauritanian government sources said yesterday. Protesters took to the streets of the Mauritanian capital Nouakchott last week to demand that the Islamic country sever diplomatic ties with Israel after the Jewish state launched a military offensive in the Gaza Strip. "We have recalled our ambassador in Tel Aviv for consultations," said a foreign ministry source who declined to be named, adding that the diplomat was on his way home. The northwest African state is one of only three Arab countries to have diplomatic relations with Israel, along with Egypt and Jordan. Another source close to Mauritania's ruling military junta said Mauritania condemned the Israeli military action. "Our position as regards cutting diplomatic ties with Israel will depend on how things move on the ground, on the military situation, and on the possibility of appeasement in the Gaza Strip," he said. The amb...

I t's a tragedy that the Israelis - a people who must understand better than almost anybody the horrors of oppression - are now acting as oppressors. As the great Jewish writer Primo Levi once remarked "Everybody has their Jews, and for the Israelis it's the Palestinians". By creating a middle Eastern version of the Warsaw ghetto they are recapitulating their own history as though they've forgotten it. And by trying to paint an equivalence between the Palestinians - with their homemade rockets and stone-throwing teenagers - and themselves - with one of the most sophisticated military machines in the world - they sacrifice all credibility. The Israelis are a gifted and resourceful people who fully deserve the right to live in peace, but who seem intent on squandering every chance to allow that to happen . It's difficult to avoid the conclusion that this conflict serves the political and economic purposes of Israel so well that they have every interest in mainta...

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, ...

The Israeli defense establishment is currently preparing for a military move against Hamas targets in Gaza after it received the green light Wednesday from the Israeli Cabinet . During a cabinet meeting about the situation in and outside the Gaza Strip, a senior Israeli occupation army officer gave ministers in attendance an overview of the potential retaliatory moves that the defense establishment is planning against Hamas' regime. A media blackout was declared on the deliberations. By late morning Wednesday, the Magen David Adom rescue service declared its highest level of alert . An Israeli official told Israeli daily Haaretz that Israel's response will go beyond the air raid, "Our response will be substantial and painful to Hamas," the official said. Most strikes will come from the air and be aimed at facilities believed to be of strategic importance to Hamas' political and military leadership. However, the officer said that weather conditions are currently ...