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Showing posts from August, 2009

MEMRI Report

Although I know only a few words in Arabic (yes, hello, goodbye, let's go and peace) it is important that we make ourselves aware of what is said in the Arab media. It does not serve the cause of peace to base decisions and opinions on what is only said to the Western press. (The same would be true about Hebrew, but there does not appear as wide a gap between what Israelis say and write in Hebrew and what they say and write in English.) To that end it is worthwhile, if not depressing, to read the reports of The Middle East Media Research Institute ( MEMRI ). I quote here from their recent report about the Fatah conference. (Fatah is the ruling party of Mahmoud Abbas' Palestinian Authority.): "Statements made on the eve of the Fatah conference, and during its opening session, indicate that the dominant position among Fatah members is that resistance ( muqawama) of various forms is a legitimate right of the Palestinian people. Most Fatah members advocated a combination

Addendum

Here are two more articles from this weekend's papers about the peace process, the question of settlements and the increasing tension between the Obama and Netanyahu administrations. 1. Elliott Abrams in Saturday's The Wall Street Journal : Why Israel is Nervous . 2. Tom Friedman in Sunday's The New York Times : Free Marriage Counseling . I am sure there will be more to read in the weeks and months ahead.