However, as Cyprus and Israel reach out to build that relationship, the change in policy will require a deeper change in orientation toward each other and perhaps toward the region. This is a difficult process that needs to take place not only in the political echelon and public opinion (where strong anecdotal evidence suggests it
Another Israeli advantage lies in community-building. Jews through the ages have excelled in setting up communities. In Israel, the challenges of development led to the creation of a nationwide network of community centers. The IsraAID/Tevel B’tzedek team in the Leogane organized such a network on a smaller scale. In Port au Prince a small, dedicated
We saw history in the making as the crowds in Juba celebrated the declaration of independence of the new Republic of South Sudan. This independent state the size of Texas creates a precedent for the continent of Africa to break the bondage of boundaries imposed by colonial empires. We in Israel and Palestine need to
Finally, it is interesting to speculate how this reads from a Palestinian perspective. Brimmer seems to imply that not only can the Palestinian initiative succeed in delivering its primary goal of a propaganda victory with possible international legal ramifications. It could provoke a congressional response that will further weaken the U.S. in Turtle Bay and
Cyprus feels much like home to an Israeli: rocky hills; familiar food; same sea; and a similar existential sense of living on the edge of a volcano. Many Israelis have been to Cyprus for vacations or for business, and, because their own country lacks civil marriage, Cyprus provides a convenient foreign registrar. And more Cypriots
While worldwide attention focused on the conflict in Libya, ongoing strife in the Arab world, and the disasters striking Japan, important events took place in Israel that may reshape some of the political architecture of the Eastern Mediterranean. Demetris Christofias, President of the Republic of Cyprus, brought his Foreign and Trade ministers and some sixty
Many say that the peace process is at a standstill. This is mistaken, since nothing stands still in the politics of the Middle East. A more accurate formulation is that the peace process is in retreat. Among the Palestinians, the Abbas-Fayyad government continues to work on building infrastructure for statehood, but its leaders look across
The fifteenth annual rally commemorating the assassination of Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, in Tel Aviv’s Rabin Square, will evidently be the last. The Rabin Institute announced that in light of falling attendance the annual assembly will be discontinued. Instead, his death will be commemorated by a state ceremony at his gravesite on Mt. Herzl in
Watching Iranian President Ahmadinejad gallivant through hapless Lebanon called to mind the biting Hebrew saying, dating back to the first-century Rabbi Shimon Bar-Yohai, that “the work of the righteous is done for them by others.” The implication that Jews should not worry about practical matters but focus instead on fulfilling God’s desires prehaps originated as
According to Jewish tradition, the Almighty weighs our deeds and judges us in the ten days between Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year, and Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement. This period is called “Days of Awe,” a metaphor that also accurately evokes the current state of Palestinian-Israeli negotiations.We find ourselves poised between the opening
To hear some tell it, the resumption of direct peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians means the dawn of hope in the Middle East. Others, including much of the Israeli media, discount any chance of success. The truth appears to lie somewhere in the middle.Why the talks might fail: A peace accord will entail
Benjamin Netanyahu’s recent trip to Greece, reciprocating the visit of Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou to Israel last month, should have caused some rethinking in Ankara. Even if we take at face value the Israeli and Greek assertions that the meetings were not directed against Turkey, closer strategic cooperation between Israel and Greece will necessarily
We appear to be on the cusp of direct peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians. Years ago, a moment like this would have seemed pregnant with hope and excitement. Today, responses to the news coverage vary between gray and blasé. At this moment it may be worthwhile to recall something of the spirit of
While in the U.S. last week for AJC’s stirring annual meeting in Washington and a series of speaking engagements at AJC offices along the eastern seaboard, I read an eye-opening book, The Big Sort: Why the Clustering of Like-Minded America is Tearing Us Apart, by Bill Bishop with Robert G. Cushing. Bishop is a journalist
The U.S. Army gave us the acronym “snafu.” As the Oxford Dictionary explains: “situation normal—all … fouled up,” meaning “a confused or chaotic state; a mess.” The U.S.-Israel relationship appears to be settling dangerously into a semi-permanent snafu. There is open, if officially unacknowledged speculation that Obama seeks to unseat Netanyahu, which would theoretically produce a government
For some Israeli analysts, new strains in U.S.-Israel relations in 2009 shook confidence in the longstanding alliance. They point to the cumulative effect of several factors: missteps by the adamantly pro-Israel Bush Administration that had the effect of strengthening Hamas and, with the Iraqi decapitation, the Islamic Republic of Iran; the economic crisis with its
When we see images of a soldier from something called the “master race” shooting a baby and his buddy killing a helpless young girl, we assume they portray events from the Nazi years, perhaps the Warsaw Ghetto. But the soldiers in the drama shown last week on Turkish state-owned television are Israelis, and the victims
In his biting poem “Pink Eyeglasses,” the great Hebrew poet Natan Alterman wrote of the power of illusion to distort even the most honest analysis: “The lens gives the color and the heart follows.” During the Ten Days of Repentance between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, all of us—and especially our leaders—need to look through
It is hard to recall a marathon week such as the one we just had in Israel. Visits by Secretary of Defense Gates and National Security Advisor Jones—with large delegations of senior staff, including White House advisor Dennis Ross—followed close on that by Senator Mitchell. Senior Israeli government officials are keeping uncharacteristically mum, but it
