Ray Hanania from Creators Syndicate

Egyptian Democracy Will Undermine "Peace" With Israel for 05/24/2012

Thu, 24 May 2012 00:00:00 -0700

Much is made of the fact that the late President Yasir Arafat controlled billions in funds that were used to support the Palestinian struggle for statehood and freedom.

And since it also involved politics, more than a few people asserted there was corruption, asking, how could one man be in charge of so much money?

When George Washington led the American revolution against the Bri ...

Updated: Thu May 24, 2012

Egyptian Democracy Will Undermine 'Peace' With Israel for 05/17/2012

Thu, 17 May 2012 00:00:00 -0700

Are Israelis surprised that as Democracy trumps tyranny in Egypt, one of the first casualties of the pro-Democracy movement will be the very undemocratic peace accord Egypt signed with Israel?

The Egypt-Israel peace accord was supposed to be the cornerstone of a regional-wide peace that was to include direct talks between Israel and the Palestinians. That was the intention of Egyptian di ...

Updated: Thu May 17, 2012

Offense Is in the Eye of the Beheld for 05/10/2012

Thu, 10 May 2012 00:00:00 -0700

Sometimes I think Israelis and Palestinians spend too much time encouraging people to be prepared for the worst, rather than focusing our energies on concepts and ideas that might safeguard our mutual futures.

We look at one another, and instead of seeing the majority of the people in our community, who are good, we see the dark side, the minority in our community — extremists and ...

Updated: Thu May 10, 2012

Why We Can Never Compromise On Principle for 05/03/2012

Thu, 03 May 2012 00:00:00 -0700

One year after the killing of Osama Bin Laden, I have to wonder what America has become?

Once again, CBS TV 60 Minutes was the focus of an American debate one year after the killing of Osama Bin Laden. A CIA interrogator, Puerto Rican American Jose Rodriquez, admitted on the TV show that his unit used torture, claiming it extracted information from al-Qaeda prisoners.

Rodriquez wo ...

Updated: Thu May 03, 2012

Are Christian Arabs Israel's Achilles' heel? for 04/26/2012

Thu, 26 Apr 2012 00:00:00 -0700

Are Christian Arabs Israel's Achilles' heel?

Bob Simon of CBS TV's 60 Minutes did a report on the fate of Christians in the Holy Land. It's not the first time the topic has been addressed by the media. And like all the others, it was packed with controversy.

Although Simon pointed out that Christians were facing serious challenges in several Muslim countries, he also point ...

Updated: Thu Apr 26, 2012

Israeli Over-Reaction and Killing Peace for 04/19/2012

Thu, 19 Apr 2012 00:00:00 -0700

A group of Palestinians organized a peaceful protest called Welcome to Palestine. It is a stark alternative to the violence that once dominated Palestinian resistance to Israel?s oppressive policies on Palestinians in the occupied West Bank.

ÿ Yet even before many of the Palestinian activists arrived in Israel, the Israeli government took its usual confrontational stand against anything ...

Updated: Thu Apr 19, 2012

What Jews and Palestinians Share Would Make a Powerful Film for 04/12/2012

Thu, 12 Apr 2012 00:00:00 -0700

How is it that two peoples who share so much can be so far apart and such enemies?

Of course, I am talking about Palestinians and Jews.

I've been researching my family's history through several online ancestry websites that bring together a lot of historical documents, mainly immigration and census records.

I was struck by how many Jews shared the same passage with my fathe ...

Updated: Thu Apr 12, 2012

Out of Place with Irrationality for 04/05/2012

Thu, 05 Apr 2012 00:00:00 -0700

I have always felt more out of place in the Arab-Israeli conflict than the author Edward Said did as described in his brilliantly written memoirs, ?Out of Place: A Memoir.?

The difference, though, is that I use my circumstances to push for compromise, while Said, who was a close confidant of my mentor, Ibrahim Abu-Lughod, eventually used it to push hard against Israel.

Clearly, as ...

Updated: Thu Apr 05, 2012

The Peter (Beinart) Principle for 03/29/2012

Thu, 29 Mar 2012 00:00:00 -0700

I totally support boycotting any products that originate from any of Israel's settlements. That doesn't make me anti-Jewish or anti-Israeli. It makes me pro-peace.

Until there is a two-state agreement, the settlements are an obstacle to peace as surely as is violence. Pro-Israel activists often argue that the settlements only make up about two percent of the land in the West Bank — ...

Updated: Thu Mar 29, 2012

Does Cindy McCain Care About Dead U.S. Soldiers? for 03/22/2012

Thu, 22 Mar 2012 00:00:00 -0700

Cindy McCain, the wife of Arizona Sen. John McCain, probably didn't know what she was getting into when she set up a "Fan Page" for herself on Facebook.

McCain noticed that several people who visited her page complained that her husband's father had been involved in the cover-up of the Israeli killing of 34 Americans on the USS Liberty in 1967.

The people, many involved ...

Updated: Thu Mar 22, 2012

No One Knows Nose Jobs Better for 03/15/2012

Thu, 15 Mar 2012 00:00:00 -0700

You can judge a man by his character. But in the rising sinew of the Arab Spring, Egyptian men are judged by their noses.

If Arabs and Jews share anything, it is that they are often stereotyped as having large noses.

Some look great. Others are frightening. On men, they are viewed as "distinctive." On women, they are seen as a distraction and a distortion of impending be ...

Updated: Thu Mar 15, 2012

A Grim Fairy Tale on Iran for 03/08/2012

Thu, 08 Mar 2012 00:00:00 -0800

When you look at the map of the Middle East, Iran looks like a giant panther pouncing atop the Arab (and Israeli) countries to the southwest.

Iran is more than just one country. It's poised to dominate the region. Its Shia population puts it in direct conflict with most of the Arab Middle East. Its virulent rhetoric is reminiscent of the old days of Arab-Israeli politics, when Egypt's Ar ...

Updated: Thu Mar 08, 2012

Sacha Baron Cohen's Antics: Good or Bad? for 03/01/2012

Thu, 01 Mar 2012 00:00:00 -0800

Israelis and Americans know Sacha Baron Cohen well, maybe in different ways.

His maternal grandmother lives in Haifa, Israel, and his mother, born in Israel, later married a Jewish businessman from Wales. Cohen studied and performed at the Habonim Dror, a Jewish Socialist-Zionist cultural youth movement, one of whose ideals is "tikkun olam," or "fixing up the world."< ...

Updated: Thu Mar 01, 2012

The Power of Film Not Given Its Due in Middle East for 02/23/2012

Thu, 23 Feb 2012 00:00:00 -0800

Many say that the pen is mightier than the sword, but today film is mightier than the pen. Every year at this time, our attention turns to the power of film at the Academy Awards, many times in a competitive way between Palestinians and Israelis.

This year, only one Middle East film has been entered into Oscar nomination. But my favorite film isn't even included.

"The Whistle ...

Updated: Thu Feb 23, 2012

Palestinian and Israeli Hope for Peace at Roadblock for 02/16/2012

Thu, 16 Feb 2012 00:00:00 -0800

It's become almost normal for Palestinians and Israelis who support peace to find themselves at the same old roadblock, going nowhere fast. The only thing moving are the extremists, who continue to pave the way to the mutual destruction of both sides.

Israeli and Palestinian leaders refuse to talk about the steps necessary to make peace. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has imposed seve ...

Updated: Thu Feb 16, 2012

Need to Monitor Pro-Syrian-Government Arab Activists in US for 02/09/2012

Thu, 09 Feb 2012 00:00:00 -0800

The Shabbiha are a notorious Syrian militia who protect the regime of dictator Bashar al-Assad. They've been accused of murdering families linked to pro-democracy protestors in Homs and other major Syrian cities over the past months since protests to overthrow the Assad dictatorship began last year.

As the United States engages the Syrian dictatorship and sets the stage for a violent tra ...

Updated: Thu Feb 09, 2012

An Attack on Iran Will Only Ignite the Region for 02/06/2012

Mon, 06 Feb 2012 00:00:00 -0800

The Iranians make it so easy to justify an attack.

Their tyrant, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, and the Iranian Ayatollahs are constantly making verbal threats and declarations of how they are going to destroy the "Zionist entity." Yet the Iranians are helpless in the face of Israel's military might.

If the Iranians had any strategic-minded thinking in their leadership, they might ...

Updated: Mon Feb 06, 2012

The Hallucination of Peace for 02/02/2012

Thu, 02 Feb 2012 00:00:00 -0800

Two of my "friends" on Facebook started going at it, as Facebook people often do, over my recent column analyzing the failure of Palestinian activists to achieve any of their goals.

The debate quickly left the topic and started careening over the cliff of Palestinian-Israeli futility at a very high speed. It became obvious that they weren't really listening to each other. Both ...

Updated: Thu Feb 02, 2012

Russian Veto Threat Turns Tables on Biased American Policies for 02/01/2012

Wed, 01 Feb 2012 00:00:00 -0800

The United States and its allies planned to introduce tough new sanctions against the Government of Syria in the United Nations Security Council, but the government of Russia has said "Nyet!"

Russia says it will not support international intervention in Syria, where pro-democracy protesters have been battling with the brutal regime of dictator Bashar al-Assad. With a Russian ve ...

Updated: Wed Feb 01, 2012

Yalla Peace: Palestinians' Worst Enemies Are Themselves for 01/26/2012

Thu, 26 Jan 2012 00:00:00 -0800

If the Israelis wanted to defeat the Palestinians, Israel would immediately recognize a Palestinian State in Gaza, the West Bank and even east Jerusalem rather than embrace policies that push Palestinians to unite. If they did that, all the Israelis would have to do is sit back and watch as the Palestinians tore themselves apart.

Yes, the tragedy of the Palestinians isn't that they are v ...

Updated: Thu Jan 26, 2012