David Singer

Palestine - Accentuate The Positive Eliminate the Negative

Jordan's Minister of Culture Barakat Awajan recently received Palestinian Minister of Culture Anwar Abu Aisha in Amman and reportedly took the opportunity to highlight these fundamental facts:

Palestine - The Bi-National State That Can Work

It is a pity that US Secretary for State John Kerry still believes that a two-state solution is possible after 20 years of failed negotiations between Israel and the PLO to achieve such a result under the Oslo Accords and the Bush Roadmap.

Palestine - Clinton’s $500,000 Speech Leaves One Speechless

The thought that anyone was prepared to contribute to paying former American President Bill Clinton $500,000 to deliver a 45 minute speech at the Peres Academic Centre during the festivities marking Israeli President Shimon Peres's 90th birthday is truly staggering - especially after hearing what he had to say.

Palestine - Pantomime and Paradox

Any cynicism or disbelief that Israel's Prime Minister Netanyahu was seriously interested in trying to reach a two-state solution with the PLO was dispelled this week with the revelation that Netanyahu last year offered to free 50 long term Palestinian security prisoners sentenced before the Oslo Accords were signed in 1993 - in a vain bid to entice Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas back to the negotiating table.

Palestine - The Abhorrent Arab Aberration

Continuing international demands for an Israeli withdrawal from every square metre of the territory occupied by Israel in the Six Day War - now misleadingly termed " The occupied Palestinian Territories " (OPT) in countless UN General Assembly and Security Council resolutions - acquires particular resonance on the 46th anniversary of the outbreak of that War on 5 June.

Palestine - Pouring Money Into A Bottomless Pit

US Secretary of State John Kerry at a meeting of the World Economic Forum in Jordan this week proposed investing another four billion dollars in trying to resolve the 130 years old Jewish-Arab conflict.

Palestine - Beware The Snake Oil Salesman

Paul Larudee - one of the founders of the Free Gaza and Free Palestine Movements and an organizer in the International Solidarity Movement - has made some incredibly misleading statements in his latest article "The Palestine Liberation Movement is not about Anti- Semitism" - published in Dissident Voice on 23 May.

Palestine - Turning Unreality Into Reality

A TV show - "The President" - now being aired on Maan TV - a popular independent Palestinian radio station - presents an opportunity for the election-starved Palestinian Arabs to have their say on what they would do on a variety of subjects if they were elected as the President of Palestine.

Palestine - Hawking Needs To Do More Talking

The decision by eminent physicist Stephen Hawking to not attend the Presidential Conference organised by Israel's President - Shimon Peres - has aroused dismay by his Israeli hosts and applause from the Palestinian academic community.

Palestine - Balfour Declaration Raises Arab Hackles

The Palestinian Arabs are up in arms at the news that the original 1917 Balfour Declaration will be released by the British Library for display in Israel alongside Israel's Declaration of Independence at the opening of a new museum in Tel Aviv in 2015 on the site where Israel declared its independence in 1948.

Palestine - Singing From The Same Hymn Book

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has now claimed that a "country" exists in that area of the West Bank under the Palestinian Authority's complete administrative and security control prior to the Authority's demise in January 2013.

Palestine - Two New Arab Myths

Two new Arab myths have surfaced in the past week to complicate attempts by US Secretary of State John Kerry to procure the resumption of the long stalled negotiations between Israel and the PLO.

Palestine - Obama Chooses Zionism Over Rejectionism

Veteran Israeli peace activist and former Knesset member Uri Avnery points out in his latest article "Obama's Empathy Deficit in Palestine" that there are two completely divergent Jewish and Arab narratives driving each other's current claims to the territory once called Palestine.

Palestine - UN Special Rapporteur Bans Free Speech

United Nations Special Rapporteur on "the situation of human rights in the Palestinian territories occupied since 1967" - Professor Richard Falk - has taken the extraordinary action to ban posts on his blog page "Citizen Pilgrimage".

Palestine - Obama utters the magic word “Annapolis”

President Obama's use of just one word - "Annapolis" - stands out among the thousands he uttered during his three day visit to Jerusalem, Ramallah and Amman.

Palestine - The One Question President Obama Must Answer

Is there one intrepid reporter - among the scores following President Obama during his momentous visits to Jerusalem and Ramallah this week - who will be prepared to ask President Obama this one critical question face to face at one of his scheduled press conferences:

Palestine: Suspending Disbelief Is An Unbelievable Hoax

Beware failed negotiators like Dennis Ross when they continue to pontificate on the possibility of the two-state solution.

Palestine - Backtracking Begins As Democracy Dies

Arab attempts to undermine and trash the Bush Roadmap and end any hopes of a negotiated peace between Israel and the PLO were flagged with some remarkable comments made by James Zogby in his article published this week headlined "Putting the Blame on "Palestine's Democratic Deficit"

Palestine - Tongue Tied and Terrified

"The State of Palestine" is not a place that encourages or tolerates freedom of speech - if recent events are any guide.

Palestine - Bring On The Elections

Democracy continues to be seen nowhere in "the State of Palestine" - whilst Israel's choice for next Prime Minister - Benjamin Netanyahu - is engaged in the usual machinations involved in putting a coalition together to govern Israel for the next four years.