During the past weeks I attended two conferences in New York and Vienna, which were aimed at finding ways of using the media to improve dialogue and understanding. In New York, the longest running children’s television production company rounded up some of the world’s best creative people and media producers in order to see how they can improve respect and understanding. The Sesame Workshop which co produces with tens of countries and whose children’s puppets appear in over 120 countries wanted to know what can be done to improve understanding and mutual respect between the peoples of the world. In Vienna the foreign minister invited representatives from the Mediterranean basin to discuss the role of media in improving Euro-Med dialogue. Continue Reading »

In dealing with the Arab-Israeli conflict, there seems to be a major problem in deciding what the time reference is. Listening to the US Secretary of state Colin Powel on Friday one gets the impression that for America, history begins and ends with the last suicide bombing against Israelis. Attacks against civilians anywhere is reprehensible and must be condemned. Continue Reading »

United States President George W. Bush is making a political mistake by refusing to meet with the Palestinian president Yasser Arafat. Such a meeting is not only important for the political health of the coalition against Ben Laden, it is also the right thing to do.

During the past decades the US has accepted upon itself the role of the sponsor of the peace process in the Middle East. America has refused to allow the United Nations or the European Union from taking a lead role in trying to bring peace to this sensitive region in the world. The minimum requirement of any party that has taken upon itself this role is to meet with the leaders of both sides. By insisting on this role the US must act as an honest broker trying to bridge the gaps not widen them. Continue Reading »

The Sept. 11 terrorist attacks on U.S. soil have given President Bush a freer hand to dictate foreign policy. Congress, which in the past has thrown monkey wrenches into foreign policy initiatives, is unlikely to tamper with any new policy directives coming out of 1600 Pennsylvania Ave.

The parties to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict also are unlikely to attempt to block any new push by the Bush administration toward the long-awaited peace. Continue Reading »

Jerusalem-AMIN– There was little time wasted between the announcement of the bombings in America and the focus of world attention on Palestinians and Israelis. The speedy and unambiguous denouncement by top Palestinian leaders including President Arafat to the terrorism in America did little to shift attention and blame away from the Middle East. The Israelis lined up their officials and experts ready to provide a hungry American TV audience with clear conclusions, immediately linking the bombings to this region and giving advice to Americans how they should deal with this problem. The Israelis tried to solicit as much sympathy for their plight, prejudging the motives and linking themselves with the Americans as partners in the fight against “Islamic terror.” Continue Reading »

The Bush administration’s latest position regarding the Middle East is adding fuel to a raging fire. US vice president Dick Cheney told the Fox television network that the US understands Israel’s need to attack Palestinians which he called acts of self defense. Israel has been carrying out a declared policy of assassinations against Palestinian activists. In the latest attack Israeli missiles fired from a US made -apache helicopter killed eight Palestinians including two children. This extra-judicial killing is a violation of both US and international law. This US tacit support, (which was front page headlines in the Middle East) is contradictory to US values and hurts US interests in the Middle East. America should instead put its efforts in shoring up its own brokered cease fire agreement. Continue Reading »

The Bush administration is in the process of falling in the same Israeli trap as that of the former Clinton administration as far as the Middle East is concerned. Favoring form over content will not bring about lasting peace.

Favoring the Israeli direction, the latest US policy push has been to shore up a short term cease-fire at the expense of the long term political process. Continue Reading »

If there was one issue that the Mitchell committee seems to have zoomed clearly on in its report has been the issue of settlement activity. In the clearest call yet from a committee made up of senior western and NATO leaders, the committee called for a clear and unambiguous freeze to settlement activity.

According to Palestinian and Israel press reports, the Mitchell committee went very far in it is statement in exposing the need for an end to settlement activity as a condition to the end of violence. “A cessation of Palestinian-Israeli violence will be particularly hard to sustain unless the Government of Israel freezes all settlement construction activity. Settlement activities must not be allowed to undermine the restoration of calm and the resumption of negotiations.” Continue Reading »

When I heard the newly sworn-in president of the United States mention Jericho in his inauguration speech, I wondered whether he had ever been to the real Jericho, a place I drive by each week.

President George W. Bush wanted to illustrate his new administration’s vision of compassion when he referred to the biblical story of the good Samaritan.  Continue Reading »

‘You will go home again in safety and in freedom. When you have gone through something as awful as this, it is very easy to have your spirit broken, to spend the rest of your life obsessed with anger and resentment. But if you do that, you have already given those who have opposed you a victory.”

“We must have peace on terms that will allow the people to return to their homes and rebuild their communities. And we must have accounting for the wrongs that have been done.”

The above statements were not made by a PLO leader addressing Palestinian refugees in Lebanon or in Gaza. They were made by US President Bill Clinton and his Secretary of State Madeline Albright regarding the Kosovo refugees.  Continue Reading »