Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas announced he will not run again for president. Of course, with the apparent cancellation of Palestinian Authority elections in January it’s clear that no one will run against him either. And so we are left with two Palestinian governments, in Ramallah and Gaza, both illegal under Palestinian law and running
Largely obscured by the Carmel forest fire, two related developments last week call to mind the sad old epigram: in the Middle East, an optimist thinks things could be worse, while a pessimist knows they will be. The United States announced it will no longer push for a further Israeli 90-day building freeze. At about the
It apparently began when a mischievous fourteen-year-old playing hooky from school ran off to an isolated spot near his town on the Carmel mountainside in order to smoke a nargilah (water pipe). Tragically, he seems to have been careless in disposing of the hot coal from the pipe. One’s heart goes out to him: this Tom Sawyeresque
