Free Republic

Lt. Col. (ret.) Jonathan D. Halevi is a senior researcher of the Middle East and radical Islam at the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs. He discusses why some are keen to perpetuate the "Occupation" and oppose Palestinian independence in Gaza.

t has become an axiomatic belief that solving the Israeli Palestinian conflict is central to resolving numerous other problems in the Middle East. That claim may or may not be an exaggerated one. But there is no doubt that certain aspects of the Israeli Palestinian conflict have become rallying cries to Jihadis throughout the world who proclaim that their armed struggle against Israel and the West must continue until nothing less than the "liberation" of Jerusalem from the hands of the infidel. To be more precise however, Jerusalem per se is not the issue. The heart of the matter is...

When the sound grenade detonated at her feet on June 30, Lansing resident Loretta Johnston knew that it was a sign to run. Through the two non-violent peacemaking training sessions she’d taken, the former state employee had prepared for this kind of reaction on the part of the Israeli soldiers. She knew that when the soldiers wanted to break up a protest, they’d follow the sound grenades with tear gas, rubber bullets, stun grenades and even live ammunition. She told herself not to panic. I met Johnston and three other members of the Michigan Peace Team in the West Bank...

WASHINGTON - In what experts said was a historic change of position, the United States said Wednesday that Israel should not have to withdraw completely from the West Bank or allow Palestinian refugees to return to their homes inside Israel. President Bush said in an official letter to Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon that it was time to recognize "new realities on the ground, including already existing major Israeli population centers." He wrote that it would not be "realistic" for Israel to withdraw from those centers or to admit the several million Palestinian refugees. While top administration officials insisted these...

ABU HISHMA, Iraq, Dec. 6 — As the guerrilla war against Iraqi insurgents intensifies, American soldiers have begun wrapping entire villages in barbed wire. In selective cases, American soldiers are demolishing buildings thought to be used by Iraqi attackers. They have begun imprisoning the relatives of suspected guerrillas, in hopes of pressing the insurgents to turn themselves in. The Americans embarked on their get-tough strategy in early November, goaded by what proved to be the deadliest month yet for American forces in Iraq, with 81 soldiers killed by hostile fire. The response they chose is beginning to echo the Israeli...

Pakistan-Congress-Palestine /WRD/ Ummah's firm stand, only way to save Palestinians: WMC Islamabad, April 6, IRNA -- Secretary General of World Muslim Congress (WMC) - Moatmar Aa'lam Islami- Raja Muhammad Zafarul Haqq on Friday said all Muslim countries should form a collective strategy towards resolution of the Palestinian problem as it is a cause of anguish for the entire Islamic Ummah. Talking to "IRNA" here, Raja Zafarul Haqq underlined the need for adopting a joint stand to save annihilation of innocent Palestinians by Israeli military might. "It would serve no purpose at all, if we kept raising our voices only in...

i thought you folks may be interested in this personal account. this isn't a comment from me, just passing on the infromation. Dear all, Lois drafted this update. Before I start typing it, I was busy outside during the day trying to get more fuel for our electric generator. In the meantime, however, we got our electricity back. We are still safe in our house. "Third day of third military reoccupation occupation in Ramallah" We went to bed last night exhausted by the tension of Israeli tanks and soldiers blowing up buildings and the seige on Arafat's compound and the...