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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 versus
  • “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

    Victory Means an Agreement with the PA

    March 3, 2008

    Member of Knesset and former Deputy Defense Minister Brigadier General (ret.) Ephraim Sneh, blog in The Jerusalem Post, March 2, 2008:

    “Why should we speak of employment in Gaza when Grad [Katyusha] -missiles rain down on Ashkelon? But, whoever aims seriously for change on the ground and is not merely satisfied with uttering popular slogans, needs to address the root of the problem. Those with in-depth knowledge of the situation know that we cannot change the military and political situation in Gaza without changing the economic reality. It is in the interest of Israel … There is no defeating Hamas militarily without defeating it politically. A political defeat means achieving an agreement through negotiations with the Palestinian Authority. There is no purpose to an agreement if it does not break Hamas’ might. There is no purpose to breaking Hamas’ might if we do not reach a political agreement. These two matters are co-dependent.”