Israel

The Illusion of Israeli/Palestinian Peaceful Conflict Resolution

by Stephen Lendman

Peace talks are more pretense than real. They've been that way for decades. Initiatives were always stillborn. They reflect the greatest diplomatic scam of all time.

It's no different now. Peaceful conflict resolution's a convenient illusion. It's guaranteed. Chances for success are ZERO. Smart money knows but won't say.

Dispossessing East Jerusalem Palestinian Residents

by Stephen Lendman

Israel plans Judaizing Jerusalem entirely. It wants it exclusively Jewish. It's an international city. It's under a UN trusteeship. It doesn't matter.

Ethnic cleansing is official Israeli policy. Palestinian owned land is seized. Homes are demolished. Dispossessions follow.

Sham Peace Talks Resume

by Stephen Lendman

Why bother. Talks are doomed to fail. So did multiple previous rounds. Israel wants things its way. Demands masquerade as give and take.

According to one PLO official, "Israel will dodge, evade and propose unachievable demands to promote a conclusion that negotiations are futile, and so Israel will continue to steal lands as they are doing now."

Spinning the Israeli/Palestinian Peace Process

by Stephen Lendman

New York Times editors, correspondents and contributors do it as well as anyone. They deceive regular readers in the process.

Illusions substitute for facts. Pro-Israeli bias reflects longstanding Times policy. The worst of occupation harshness goes unreported. Settler violence is ignored. Palestinians are blamed for Israeli crimes.

Israeli Occupation Harshness Prevents Peace

by Stephen Lendman

The Israeli/Palestinian conflict is perhaps the longest one in modern times. It's festered for decades. Resolution's nowhere in sight. 

Multiple peace talk rounds don't work. They never did. They were orchestrated to fail. They're pretense. They're fake. Nothing's different this time.

Israeli Business As Usual

by Stephen Lendman

Hardline extremists run Israel. Netanyahu's the worst. He's lawless. He's unprincipled. He's duplicitous. 

So are other coalition partner members. They say one thing. They do another. Same old, same old is policy.

Israeli Democracy: A Convenient Illusion

by Stephen Lendman

Israel's more hypocrisy than democracy. Rhetoric belies longstanding policy. Nothing ahead suggests change.

Democracy exists in name only. Arundhati Roy calls India a "limbless, headless, soulless torso left bleeding under the butcher's cleaver with a flag driven deep into her mutilated heart."

Palestinian Prisoners: Petitioning to Block Their Release

by Stephen Lendman

Thousands of Palestinian political prisoners languish in Israel's gulag. Netanyahu got cabinet approval to release 104. They've been held longterm. They've been denied justice.

Release is meaningless. It's shameless. It's contemptuous of Palestinian rights. It falls short of freedom. They'll be ruthlessly harassed. They're denied a moment's peace.

Decades of Israeli/Palestinian Peace Talks Failure: 50 Reasons Why

by Stephen Lendman

Paul Simon's 1975 "Still Crazy After All These Years" album featured the hit song "50 Ways to Leave Your Lover." 

Subverting peace perhaps is simpler. Four decades of futile Israeli/Palestinian talks prove it. There never was a peace process. There's none now. 

Israeli/Palestinian Peace Talks: Rebooting Failure

by Stephen Lendman

The so-called peace process is fake. It was stillborn at birth. Fools and liars pretend otherwise. Honest observers understand reality. 

According to the Molad Center for the Renewal of Israeli Democracy:

Israeli Referendum Measure Blocks Land for Peace

by Stephen Lendman

Netanyahu heads Israel's worst government in history. It's hardline. It's extremist. It's fascist. It spurns Palestinian rights. It deplores peace. It enforces occupation harshness.

On August 1, Haaretz headlined "Bill requiring referendum on ceding land passes first Knesset reading."

Profile of a Rigged Peace Process

by Stephen Lendman

Count the ways. Tzipi Livni is Israel's chief negotiator. She's hardline. She supports occupation harshness. She deplores Palestinian sovereignty. 

She's a wolf in sheep's clothing. She's an unindicted war criminal. She favors Pax Israeliana. She does so in the worst sense. She doesn't negotiate. She demands.

Israeli/Washington Peace Terms: Unconditional Surrender

by Stephen Lendman

The charade began Monday night. It did so over a traditional Iftar dinner. It's the Ramadan period evening meal. It breaks the daily fast.

It was more like the last supper. According to Christian scripture, Christ shared his last meal with his Apostles. He did so before crucifixion. 

The Illusion of Israeli/Palestinian Peace for Our Time

by Stephen Lendman

Talks take place in Washington. Doing so alone assures betrayal and failure. It's certain. America one-sidedly favors Israel. It's duplicitous. It's no honest broker. It never was. It's not now. 

No legitimate Palestinian leader would permit Washington's involvement. Collaborators betray their people by doing so.

Palestinians Oppose Fake Peace Talks

by Stephen Lendman

They begin Tuesday in Washington. They're orchestrated to fail. Israel and America don't negotiate. They demand unconditional surrender.

PA coup d'etat president Abbas is a longtime collaborator. Chief PA negotiator Saeb Erekat's a convenient stooge. 

Israel Spurns Peace and Justice

by Stephen Lendman

They're verboten. They're off the table. They always were. They are now. Upcoming peace process pretense masks reality. 

Initiatives were stillborn from inception. They remain so. Palestinians genuinely want peace. Israel categorically denies them.

Israel: Talking Peace, Waging War

by Stephen Lendman

No peace/peace talks convene next week in Washington. They're fake. They're subterfuge. They're meaningless. They never worked  before. They're rigged to fail now. 

Israeli and US orchestrators assure it. So do longtime Palestinian collaborators. They're Israeli enforcers. They're assigned that role. They're well compensated for doing so.

Israeli/Palestinian Peace Talks: Let the Charade Begin

by Stephen Lendman

According to Israeli Energy and Water Resources Minister Silvan Shalom, talks will begin next week in Washington. They'll start Tuesday.

Imagine one side going into the enemy camp's heartland. Imagine its legitimate government denied participation. 

Appalling Israeli Gulag Prison Conditions

by Stephen Lendman

Israel's gulag is one of the world's worst. On July 9, 16 human rights organizations headlined "RE: European Parliament Fact-Finding Mission on Palestinian Political Prisoners." They include:

Israel Terrorizes 5-Year-Old Palestinian Boy

by Stephen Lendman

Societies are perhaps best judged by how they treat prisoners, the elderly, their most disadvantaged and children.

Israel fails on all counts. On July 9, perhaps it reached a new low. Seven IDF soldiers and an officer terrorized a 5-year old boy. They threatened him and his parents.

More Evidence of Fake Israeli/Palestinian Peace Talks

by Stephen Lendman

There's plenty already. More builds a stronger case. Previous articles explained. Israeli/Palestinian peace talks were stillborn from inception. They began decades ago. This time's no different.

Managed news misinformation substitutes for truth and full disclosure. Facts trump propaganda. Palestinians are on their own. Their legitimate government's excluded from talks. 

Israeli/Palestinian Peace: Illusion Substitutes for Reality

by Stephen Lendman

Haaretz editors, correspondents, and contributors know better. Maybe not. Maybe they don't history. 

Maybe they don't know it well enough. Maybe they forgot. Maybe they didn't check. Maybe they have other priorities. It shows in commentaries about announced Israeli/Palestinian peace talks. More on that below.

EU Shamelessly Declares Hezbollah a Terrorist Organization

by Stephen Lendman

Hezbollah's no terrorist organization. It never was one. It's not one now. It's a legitimate political party. It maintains a military wing. It's for defense, not offense.

EU nations know it. They bowed to pressure. They claimed otherwise. They disgraced themselves in the process. It didn't surprise. It's not the first time. It won't be the last. Rogue states operate that way.

Israel's Duplicitous Prisoner Release Offer

by Stephen Lendman

Israeli agreements, offers, and other concessions aren't worth the paper they're written on. Pledges made are systematically broken. 

It happens virtually every time. Rogue states operate that way. Israel's one of the worst. It's a democracy in name only. It never was one. It's not now.

EU Guidelines on Israel: Part II

by Stephen Lendman

A previous article discussed them in detail. They're largely old wine in new bottles. They're more bark than bite. They'll do virtually nothing to help long-suffering Palestinians.

New EU Guidelines on Israel

by Stephen Lendman

A previous article discussed them. They pertain to illegal Israeli West Bank, East Jerusalem, and Golan settlements. They leave besieged Gaza unaddressed. 

Targeting Free Expression in Israel

by Stephen Lendman

During previous Knesset session proceedings, MKs Ofir Akunis and Faina Kirshenbaum legislation to limit NGO funding was defeated.

Last week, MKs Ayelet Shaked and Robert Ilatov proposed their version. They call it a "softer version of the NGO bill."

Israel Governs Lawlessly

by Stephen Lendman

Israel reflects the worst of rogue state lawlessness. Netanyahu's a world class thug. Knesset members reflect fascist rule. Ethnic cleansing is official policy. So is slow-motion genocide.

Israelis are increasingly marginalized and denied. Neoliberal harshness harms millions. Israeli Arabs have virtually no rights. Praying to the wrong god is dangerous.

Vilifying Alice Walker Irresponsibly

by Stephen Lendman

Walker's a Georgia sharecropper family daughter. She's the youngest of eight children. At Atlanta's Spellman College, she was one of Howard Zinn's students.

He taught her and others:

"You can't be neutral on a moving train." 

On this, the anniversary of the  U.S.’s independence from Great Britain, some observations: