Selected Articles
Israel's Migration Balance: Demography, Politics, and Ideology
By Ian S. Luckstick: Abstract: As a state founded on Jewish immigration and the absorption of immigration, what are the ideological and political implications for Israel of a zero or negative migration balance? By closely examining data on immigration and emigration, trends with regard to the migration balance are established. This article pays particular attention to the ways in which Israelis from...
Failed Favoritism Toward Israel
By Turki al-Faisal: * President Obama gave a rousing call to action in his controversial speech last month, admonishing Arab governments to embrace democracy and provide freedom to their populations. We in Saudi Arabia, although not cited, took his call seriously. We noted, however, that he conspicuously failed to demand the same rights to self-determination for Palestinians — despite the occupation...
Same Netanyahu, Different Israel
By Daniel Levy:When Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addresses the U.S. Congress on Tuesday, much will look familiar to the last time he was accorded this honor, 15 years ago, during his first term as prime minister. Then, Netanyahu felt more at home in a Republican-led Congress (the GOP held both houses in 1996) than at Pennsylvania Avenue in a...
Who Cares in the Middle East What Obama Says?
By Robert Fisk:This month, in the Middle East, has seen the unmaking of the President of the United States. More than that, it has witnessed the lowest prestige of America in the region since Roosevelt met King Abdul Aziz on the USS Quincy in the Great Bitter Lake in 1945.While Barack Obama and Benjamin Netanyahu played out their farce in...
Welcome Hamas's conciliation with Fatah
By Musa Abumarzuq: Without Hamas, there is no legitimate Palestinian representation. Obama mustn't short change us The birth of the Cairo reconciliation agreement between Fatah and Hamas was slow and painful. But Palestinians welcomed its arrival. The tragic division which occurred in our national movement constituted a chapter we hope will never happen again. It never occurred to us that a time...
The Long Overdue Palestinian State
By Mahmoud Abbas: Sixty-Three years ago, a 13-year-old Palestinian boy was forced to leave his home in the Galilean city of Safed and flee with his family to Syria. He took up shelter in a canvas tent provided to all the arriving refugees. Though he and his family wished for decades to return to their home and homeland, they were...
Mobility Restrictions and Labor Market Dynamics in Conflict Affected West Bank and Gaza
This article is an overview of a comprehensive study, produced within the framework of a programmatic poverty assessment of the West Bank and Gaza, (Tara Vishwanath, Task Team Leader) conducted by the Social and Economic Development Department, Middle East and North Region, The World Bank. March 31, 2011 - The West Bank and Gaza economy went into a deep crisis...
Support the Palestinian Unity Government
By Jimmy Carter: This is a decisive moment. Under the auspices of the Egyptian government, Palestine’s two major political movements — Fatah and Hamas — are signing a reconciliation agreement on Wednesday that will permit both to contest elections for the presidency and legislature within a year. If the United States and the international community support this effort, they can...
Panic from the Houses off Congress and AIPAC?
By Franklin Lamb: On April 13, 2011, more than a dozen Israel 'First, last and always' US congressional leaders from both houses of Congress held an urgent conference call organized by the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC). Their purpose was to discuss how best to promote Israel during next month’s US visit by Israel’s Prime Minister Netanyahu and more importantly...
