The United Nations named yesterday the new chairman of the Commission on Population and Development as well as the head of an investigation into allegations stemming from Israel’s recent Gaza Strip operation. Danny Cameron, Israel’s deputy ambassador to the UN, will chair the Commission on Population and Development even though many Arab nations opposed the decision. Notably, South African Jewish jurist Richard Goldstone will lead the inquiry into the alleged human rights violations. The investigation will examine alleged abuses committed by both Israel as well as Palestinians, including Hamas. Goldstone already chaired similar investigations in Rwanda and Yugoslavia.
Israel and the Palestinian Authority intend to resume peace talks by the end of the month, according to published reports. New Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu may travel to Cairo in preparation for the negotiations, although Egyptian officials denied the report.
Members of the Fatah and Hamas delegations to reconciliation talks in Cairo returned yesterday to the Gaza Strip and West Bank without achieving an agreement between the parties. However, the discussions thus far supposedly resolved 15 of 18 points of contention between the parties. Meanwhile, negotiations between Hamas and Israel for the return of abducted IDF soldier Gilad Shalit remain stalled, with one Hamas official describing the process as in “a coma.”
In his latest opinion piece, Lebanese intellectual Rami Khoury discusses the Israeli democracy, giving it both praise and condemnation. While acknowledging it as the only democracy in the region, Khoury censures the system for hypocrisy, arguing that it effectively only represents Jewish residents and that the world has a duty to speak out against the discrimination. However, Khoury fails to mention that many Arab citizens enjoy full citizenship, including representation in the Knesset, although the system still remains far from flawless.
The global economic crisis appears to be increasingly affecting Israelis, with the wealthiest residents of the state losing approximately 40-percent of their fortunes. Only nine of the wealthiest 500 Israelis actually recently turned a profit, crediting the high-tech sector as a quality investment.
A few months ago, I wrote about the early stages of the conflict in Ukraine through the lens of Sun Tzu’s The Art of War. While it appears likely that the war will carry on into the foreseeable future, enough time has passed for us to make an honest assessment of each side’s relative […]
The Ukrainian Army has made dramatic strides in the last few weeks. Ukraine’s tactical commanders have outfoxed their Russian counterparts, and by issuing a feint towards the south the UA has been able to earn substantial gains in the north of their country. The impact of these efforts have been compounded by the steady stream […]
In mid-May the Irish political party, Sinn Féin, won the plurality of seats in the Northern Ireland Assembly. Many American readers might not fully understand the significance of Sinn Féin’s political victory- but rest assured that subjects of the United Kingdom and a wide range of political movements the world over have heard the message […]
The first wave of the Russian offensive in Ukraine has fallen short of Russian autocrat Vladmir Putin’s ambitions. Most analysts deduced that Putin had hoped to achieve a decapitation strike of the Ukrainian government- taking Kiev and replacing Ukrainian President Vladimir Zolinski with a pro-Kremlin voice. Kiev has been threatened repeatedly through the course of […]
On the weekend of March 26th, the notorious MS-13 gang went on a massive killing spree in El Salvador which left more than 70 people dead by Sunday. Even for a country where powerful gangs hold massive sway, this recent tragedy stands out considering that it was the bloodiest day on record since the civil […]
