Sep 24 2007 - Town Hall
by Doug Wilson
Conservatives yield to no one in our criticisms of government. We ridicule bloated programs, lampoon inefficient management, and yearn for the day when private sector principles bring some measure of accountability to the federal government.
But if we are to remain so prone to criticize, we must also, in order to retain our credibility, be able to point to examples where the private sector or public–private partnerships have delivered?or are likely to deliver?solutions to our thorniest public policy problems.
Oct 25 2008 - Washington Times
TEL AVIV | A constitutional crisis is brewing in the Palestinian territories that could make the dim prospects of Arab–Israel peace even more remote.
The four–year presidency of Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas ends Jan. 8 and, so far, his Fatah party and Hamas haven't reached agreement on the terms for a new presidential election.
Oct 25 2008 - Washington Times
HEBRON, WEST BANK (AP) – Nearly 600 newly trained Palestinian troops took up positions in this tense city on Saturday, as part of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas' attempt to expand his control in the West Bank and keep the Islamic militant Hamas in line.
Oct 12 2008 - Washington Times
DAMASCUS, SYRIA (AP) – Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said Sunday the rift between his mainstream Palestinian faction and archrival Hamas must end. The Hamas leader, meanwhile, said the time is right for reconciliation.
Sep 20 2008 - Washington Times
RAMALLAH, WEST BANK (AP) – Prominent Palestinians are lighting a fire under Israel's feet by proposing a peace in which there would be no separate Palestine and Israel, but a single state with equal rights for all.
May 19 2008 - In These Times
by Michelle Chen
For more than a generation, hip–hop has drawn kids from neighborhoods around the world into the musical intersection of street culture and political consciousness. Now that common ground is making a mark in one of the globe’s most conflict–ridden areas: the Arab world.
Tracing the breadth of the diaspora — from French streetscapes to Gaza slums — Arab youth are seizing hip–hop culture as a platform for self–expression.Dam, a three–member crew based in Lyd, a town outside Jerusalem, documents the bleak realities of segregation, violence and poverty under Israeli rule. (Their name means “blood” in Hebrew and “eternity” in Arabic.)
May 02 2008 - Washington Times
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice yesterday chided Arab countries for not helping the Palestinians financially to establish a viable state, and she accused some states of trying to get away with giving as little aid as possible.
Apr 26 2008 - Washington Times
Top Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat warned yesterday that the U.S.–backed government of President Mahmoud Abbas may "disappear" if a permanent peace deal with Israel is not concluded by the end of the year.
Mar 21 2008 - San Francisco Chronicle
RAMALLAH, West Bank (AP) –– Reconciliation talks between rival Palestinian factions Hamas and Fatah have been extended through Saturday, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said.
Mar 18 2008 - Washington Times
TEL AVIV — Recent rising turmoil in the Gaza Strip has bolstered public sympathy for Hamas at the expense of Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas and his Fatah party, according to a recent survey by a prominent Palestinian pollster.
Feb 21 2008 - Washington Times
TEL AVIV — A top Palestinian leader said yesterday that the territories now under Israeli control should follow Kosovo's lead with a unilateral declaration of statehood if U.S.–backed peace talks with Israel fail.
"If things are not going in the direction of actually halting settlement activities, if things are not going in the direction of continuous and serious negotiations, then we should take the step and announce our independence unilaterally," said Yasser Abed Rabbo, currently a senior member of the Palestinian negotiating team.
Feb 10 2008 - San Francisco Chronicle
by Abderahman Salaheldin
Comparing what is shown on prime time news in the United States and the Arab and Muslim nations could exemplify the wide gap that separates both worlds. An Egyptian family, for example, would go to bed these days with images of Palestinian families fleeing their homes in Gaza to look for food, medicine and fuel because of the Israeli siege. More graphic videos of victims of Israeli air attacks have also become regular news items. These video clips are hardly shown on prime time news in America unless accompanied by a politician or a commentator justifying Israel's actions. There is no serious discussion of needed international intervention to end Palestinian civilians' misery in Gaza. No United Nations' action has been taken to stop the siege.
Editor's Comments:
(Gee, all the Palestinians have to do is quit lobbing rockets into Israel. End of problem. bbm)
Sep 14 2007 - Town Hall
by Joel Mowbray
The tidy Western view of Palestinian politics coming down to Islamists versus secularists faces yet another reality check. Both Hamas and the supposedly secular Fatah are engaging in a new propaganda war, each portraying itself as the defender of the faith, while accusing the other party of defiling Islam, according to a recent report from the Palestinian Media Watch.
While the competing videos represent just a recent snapshot of the bitter struggle between Hamas and Fatah for Palestinian hearts and minds, it is indicative of the increasingly Islamic tenor of the culture that each group is attempting to stake out the Islamic high ground.
Sep 02 2007 - San Francisco Chronicle
Rushdi abu Alouf,Richard Boudreaux, Los Angeles Times
A protest by tens of thousands of Palestinians against the closure of the Gaza Strip's borders turned violent Saturday, when several hundred of them rushed the Rafah border terminal trying to cross into Egypt, prompting...
Sep 01 2007 - Washington Times
GAZA CITY, Gaza City ? A protest of Hamas rule by Fatah supporters turned violent yesterday when Hamas men began forcefully dispersing the crowd, firing in the air and beating demonstrators.
About 20 persons were injured in the clashes, including children, according to doctors and witnesses.
Two journalists were beaten by Hamas supporters, although neither was seriously hurt. Two other French journalists suffered minor injuries from a small explosion.
Aug 29 2007 - Washington Times
by Joshua Mitnick
Jackhammers mounted on excavator trucks attacked the pothole–littered street that for years has snarled traffic outside an Israeli military check point on the Jeru– salem Ramallah road, the most heavily traveled Palestinian traffic route in the West Bank.
Aug 26 2007 - Washington Times
by LONDON SUNDAY TELEGRAPH
With both legs badly bruised from a vicious beating, Shaher Abu Oda can get around only with a painful shuffle.
Aug 25 2007 - Seattle Times
GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip ? Hamas security agents clashed with supporters of the rival Fatah movement Friday, firing into the air and beating journalists covering a demonstration against the Islamic militant group's rule in the Gaza Strip.
It was the second time in recent weeks that Hamas has scuffled with Fatah protesters, a signal of possible cracks in the Islamic group's two–month–old takeover of Gaza. Harassment of journalists and political opponents has grown increasingly common in the coastal strip.
Aug 24 2007 - Washington Times
by Brian Blackwell
Seventy–eight American citizens and permanent residents were evacuated yesterday from the Gaza Strip, ending more than two months of unsuccessful attempts to leave the region, according to the Washington–based Council on American–Islamic Relations.
Eman Bahour of Tennessee and her three children were among those to leave yesterday.
Aug 22 2007 - Washington Times
by Steven Gutkin
RAFAH, Gaza Strip (AP) ? Gaza's public employees are getting paid on one condition: Stay home.
Such is the irony of life in the Gaza Strip now that Hamas militants are firmly in charge. A rival pro–Western government in the West Bank is delivering salaries to most of Gaza's civil servants as long as they don't work.
The moderate Fatah movement of Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas doesn't want its money propping up Hamas, which violently seized control of Gaza in June.
