Worth Reading... Palestine-Related Articles

In today's worth reading: Akiva Eldar argues for support of the Palestinian economy; Bradley Burston and Richard Silversetein critique the Israeli police state; Amira Hass questions the list of items prohibited from entering Gaza; Mustafa Barghouthi questions whether the proximity talks can produce anything; and more.

Buy Palestinian products by Akiva Eldar (Haaretz)

Suppose some Palestinian group managed to set up a new settlement on land abandoned by refugees of the 1967 war in the Jordan Valley. What would your average Israeli patriot have to say about an Israeli contractor who agreed to build it, or about Jewish workers clambering on Palestinian scaffolds? >

If the secret police ran a Jewish state by Bradley Burston (Haaretz)

If a Jewish state were run by the secret police, Israelis could disappear without a trace. No contact with lawyers. Court-ordered muzzles on broadcast and print news media. >

Latest on Ameer Makhoul, Secret Arrest, Gag Order, and Silence of Israeli Press (Tikun Olam)

Those of you who followed this blog during the thick of the Anat Kamm-Uri Blau case, noted a critical juncture at which the weight of the secret gag order charade became too heavy. After the Israeli media itself began obliquely ridiculing the Shin Bet for maintaining a secret that the whole world knew, including many Israelis among them, the gag collapsed like a house of cards. >

Why won't Israel allow Gazans to import coriander? by Amira Hass (Haaretz)

The Defense Ministry is refusing - on security grounds, it says - to reveal why Israel prohibits the import into the Gaza Strip of items such as cilantro, sage, jam, chocolate, french fries, dried fruit, fabrics, notebooks empty flowerpots and toys, while allowing cinnamon, plastic buckets and combs. >

Latest Israel-Palestinian talks hold little hope by Mustafa Barghouthi (USA Today)

After 18 months with no direct Israeli-Palestinian negotiations, so-called proximity talks between intermediaries, rather than face-to-face meetings between the direct parties, are scheduled to begin this week. An announcement is anticipated shortly. These shuttle deliberations are expected to continue for four months with Arab League backing. They hold little hope. >

Israeli religious forces on the march by Marwan Bishara (AlJazeera.net)

As the Israeli Palestinian 'peace process' marches in place, religious-Zionism is marching into the leadership of the Israeli army, rendering an improbable peace mission impossible. >

West Bankers Made Refugees in Their Own Country by Mel Frykberg (IPS)

Several Palestinians have set up a protest tent in no-man's land in the northern Gaza Strip, near the Erez border crossing into Israel, as they protest their deportation from the Israeli occupied West Bank into Gaza where Hamas authorities have refused them entry. >

Wagering on Washington by Dina Ezzat (Al-Ahram Weekly)

"This won't work -- indirect talks, proximity talks will not yield results," Israeli Intelligence Minister and Deputy Prime Minister Dan Meridor said Wednesday. >

Nick Clegg to Haaretz: I admire Israel, but won't stop criticizing its government by Adar Primor (Haaretz)

"Clegg is bad news for Israel," one official here said. "His party is running on a human rights platform, and the atmosphere is hostile to Israel. We remind the Liberal Democrats of South Africa during apartheid. Even if Clegg decides not to take the foreign portfolio, the very fact that Liberal Democrats sit in the cabinet is likely to mean trouble for us." >

The views expressed in these articles are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect those of The Jerusalem Fund.

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