In-Depth Coverage

Original Commentaries

08/07/08: How to Deal with Jerusalem —Lt. Col. (Res.) Ron Shatzberg, Project Director, Economic Cooperation Foundation. Interview with Middle East Bulletin.
08/07/08: How to Deal with Jerusalem —
08/05/08: Why Did Maliki Call for a Timeline? —by Christopher Kojm who teaches at the Elliott School of International Affairs at George Washington University and is a former senior advisor to the Iraq Study Group. Original Commentary for Middle East Bulletin.

Setting the Record Straight

Already Divided

“Even the Arab minority in the city has shown its preference for living under Israeli rule, as many have moved to the Israeli side of the security barrier being built around Jerusalem. Their choice is reasonable, as Jerusalem offers the quality of life of a modern western city while only a few kilometers away the norm is a third world standard of living, chaos and religious intolerance. An undivided Jerusalem is the best guarantee of a better life for all Jerusalemites.”
—Nathan Diament, Director of Public Policy, Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations of America, July 23, 2008

“Those who believe that Jerusalem should not be divided, and mean by that that the Arab neighborhoods should not be separated from the city, should be the first to insist that an active policy be adopted by the government and the municipality to improve the lot of local Arab residents. Barring that, Jerusalem will continue to remain a divided city.”
—Moshe Arens, former Israeli defense and foreign minister (Likud), “A Story of Neglect,” Haaretz, July 28, 2008

Middle East Analysis

Israel Releases 199 Palestinian Prisoners —
Significant Lebanese-Syrian Meeting Overshadowed by Bombing —
The Challenge of Jerusalem —Prof. Yaacov Bar-Siman-Tov, head, Jerusalem Institute for Israel Studies; professor of international relations, Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Interview with Middle East Bulletin.

Economic Horizon Needed

January 30, 2008

Israeli President Shimon Peres, speech at a Geneva Initiative Conference titled An Agreement within a Year, January 13, 2008 (translated by Middle East Bulletin):

“It is hard to negotiate a peace agreement. Home support is capricious, like Napoleon used to say, it is better to work against coalitions than try and work with them. I believe all three leaders – Olmert, Abbas and Bush – truly want peace. The biggest problem however is how to bolster Abbas at home. We can provide him and Salam Fayyad with guns and I am not scared that those would turn against us as guns don’t shoot, people do. However, what we really need to do is build an economic horizon and create employment opportunities. There are currently four projects in process that can create 100 thousand jobs. With the Palestinian family averaging at seven people, we can make a difference in the lives of 700,000 Palestinians.

We have less than a year considering the terms of Bush and Abbas. That is a very short period. We need to negotiate with our utmost efforts, and take some risks.”