David Singer

Palestine: Forget Reconciliation Between Hamas And Fatah

The much vaunted reconciliation between rival Palestinian Arab groups Hamas and Fatah still remains a mirage almost two months after the widely publicized signing of a reconciliation agreement in Cairo between the two groups on 4 May.

Palestine - Unleashing The Self-Determination Genie

It is hard to believe that the possibility of the Palestinians successfully approaching the UN in September and obtaining “a license to statehood“ is even being seriously contemplated.

Palestine -  An Arab West Bank Is A Lost Cause

The 44th Anniversary of the Six Day War occurred this week on 5 June 1967. It is therefore opportune to recall some of the significant events that led to Jordan’s loss of the West Bank in that War ending 19 years of uninterrupted occupation - and to understand why all of the West Bank - or its equivalent area - will never again return to Arab control.

Palestine: FIFA Relents But Rules Are Still Bent

FIFA has been in the media spotlight this week as its practices and procedures have come under increasing scrutiny and its conduct has become of great concern to many of its member countries.

Palestine -  Jordanian Land Grants - Not Israeli Land Swaps

President Obama has been widely praised since his speech to the State Department on 19 May when he stated:

“We believe the borders of Israel and Palestine should be based on the 1967 lines with mutually agreed swaps, so that secure and recognized borders are established for both states.“

Palestine - Obama Continues To Fudge On America’s Commitment To Israel

President Obama in an address to the AIPAC Policy Conference on 22 May has failed to redress the enormous damage done by him to America's integrity and reputation during his speech three days earlier at the State Department. Addressing the State Department Obama then stated:

Palestine - Obama Sinks America’s Integrity and Reputation

Remarks made by President Obama at the State Department in Washington on 19 May indicate he is prepared to honour some - but not all - commitments made to Israel by former American President George W Bush in his letter to Israeli Prime Minister Sharon on 14 April 2004 (the Bush Letter)

Palestine - Bring Jordan Back Into The Equation

Any further negotiations between Israel and the Palestinian Authority are dead and buried. This is the only conclusion to be drawn from the recent signing of a reconciliation agreement between rival Palestinian factions - Hamas and Fatah - intended to end their fratricidal conflict that has claimed the lives of hundreds of the West Bank and Gaza’s civilian Arab populations and wounded and traumatized thousands of others over the last four years.

Palestine - Hamas And Fatah Seal Unreal Deal

The announcement this week in Cairo of the long awaited reconciliation between rival Palestinian factions Hamas and Fatah has turned out to be to nothing more than an agreement to continue negotiating on a range of so far unresolved - and apparently irreconcilable - issues.

Palestine - Abbas Negates Further Negotiations With Israel

The Palestinian Authority (PA) announcement abdicating to the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) the conduct of any future political negotiations with Israel - effectively sinks any further hope of direct negotiations being resumed with Israel over the future sovereignty of the West Bank and Gaza. The PA has consigned itself - and 17 years of on and off negotiations - on to the scrapheap of history to join previously failed negotiators and negotiations attempting to achieve a peaceful resolution of the 130 years conflict between Jews and Arabs in former Palestine.

Israel - A Boycott Without A Buoy

The recent attempt by the Marrickville Council in Sydney to impose a boycott on its purchase of Israeli goods and products spectacularly collapsed after the Council was advised by its Chief Officer that enforcing the boycott would cost its ratepayers four million dollars. When people have to put their money where their mouth is - an idea that seems attractive in the first place suddenly becomes very much less desirable. So it proved to be with Marrickville Council.

Palestine Recognized - United Nations Delegitimized

Any decision by the United Nations General Assembly to recognize a Palestinian State next September could signal the beginning of the end for the United Nations as a credible organization pledged to uphold the rule of international law in dealings with - and between - member states.

Goldstone Gazumped On Gaza

Richard Goldstone now faces bitter condemnation from Israel following his belated admission that his infamous Report was wrong in finding that Israel had intentionally targeted civilians during its invasion of Gaza in December 2008.

Gaza and Libya - UN Speaks With Forked Tongue

The double standards employed by the United Nations when it comes to dealing with Israel were thrown into sharp focus with the Security Council’s passing of Resolution 1973 on 19 March.

Obama - Confronting The Killing Culture In Palestine

The brutal murder of five members of the Fogel family including three children aged 11, 4 and 3 months - whilst asleep in their house - could only elicit the following pathetic response from President Obama:

“We condemn in the strongest possible terms the murder of five Israelis in a terrorist attack in the northern West Bank, and we offer our condolences to their loved ones and to the Israeli people. There is no possible justification for the killing of parents and children in their home. We call on the Palestinian Authority to unequivocally condemn this terrorist attack and for the perpetrators of this heinous crime to be held accountable.”

Palestine - Pontification, Prediction and Poppycock

The world has been agog this week at the news that Israel's Prime Minister - Benjamin Netanyahu - is to announce a new peace plan in May - possibly in an address to the United States Congress - in an effort to end the conflict between Jews and Arabs in former Palestine.

Palestine - Intellectual Ignorance Insults Israel

Novelist Ian McEwan displayed crass ignorance of the Arab-Jewish conflict when recently accepting the US$10000 Jerusalem Prize - awarded to a writer whose work best expresses and promotes the idea of the ''freedom of the individual in society.'' The Prize was awarded to McEwan by Jerusalem mayor Nir Barkat at a ceremony attended by Israel’s President Shimon Peres and Culture and Sports Minister Limor Livnat.

Egypt, Israel and Gaza - Flashpoint For Future Confrontation

The Egyptian Revolution has raised questions as to the possible termination of the 1979 Israel-Egypt Peace Treaty by Egypt. Any such concern - in the short term - seems to have been allayed by the Fourth Egyptian Military Statement issued on 12 February declaring:

Egypt and Tunisia - The Power of Prediction

The West has been caught with its pants down following the popular revolutions in Egypt and Tunisia during the past month. I wonder why.

Palestine - Jimmy Carter Caught In Court Disaster

Former US president Jimmy Carter faces the prospect of paying damages exceeding five million dollars if he is unsuccessful in defending legal proceedings against himself and his publisher Simon & Schuster Inc resulting from the publication of Carter's book Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid - which had an initial print run of 300,000 copies.