The beauty lies in the way Israel divides the conflict with the Palestinians into separate battlefields to avoid a comprehensive diplomatic solution… [T]he results of the January 2006 elections in the territories brought Hamas to power and gave Israel the excuse to deprive the PA of its representation. The two parts of the Palestinian state became independent entities and by their own doing fulfilled Israel’s desire to apply the principle of divide and rule.
Zvi Barel
Zvi Barel: Israel’s ideal partners are in Gaza
2 November 2011
Zvi Barel: Is Judaism a race? Ask Israelis
27 December 2010
The Israeli race defines its identity as Zionism… The territory is neither that which was recognized by the UN, nor what was promised to the Jews as a national home, nor a sanctuary from anti-Semitism. Rather, it is a boundary-less sprawl that sends satellites into the land of another people and refuses to confine itself in a defined national container. The territory that has been allocated to this Israeli entity is too small for it. The state is only the beginning of the age of redemption, not its consummation.
Zvi Barel: Give them an inquiry
20 June 2010
An international inquiry should have a different mandate: to look into how Israel managed to sell its destructive policy to the countries of the world, how they agreed to the jailing of 1.5 million people without a UN resolution. They should look into the international significance of the fact that a member of the UN decides to take such a step, and the international organization that now wants to investigate can’t prevent that step, or forcefully act to cancel it.
Zvi Barel: Absentee loyalty
30 May 2010
The word “Arab” is not mentioned in the legislation, but the bill is directed against the Arabs. Will anyone consider stripping Anat Kamm of her citizenship if she is convicted of espionage? … The problem is a viewpoint that considers a community, by its mere existence, ethnic origin, language and links with what are described as enemy states as the target for this legislation. Without Arabs there would be no need for such obscene bills, because only Jews can be loyal to the state.
According to Egyptian sources, Israel provided Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak with an outline of Qatar’s proposal, which would allow it to bring construction materials and other goods into the Strip… Israel’s rejection of the plan, it seems, resulted largely from Egyptian opposition.
Zvi Barel: The missiles are coming
9 May 2010
A rational country would have done the arithmetic long ago and understood that by continuing to hold on to the Golan Heights, the chances of a confrontation would simply grow.
The Strategic Affairs Ministry [General Yaalon] never ceases to bring us peace of mind. How nice to know that someone in Israel is monitoring Palestinian incitement, ensuring they “create an environment of peace” and striving “to push them toward a culture of peace”. After all, what do we care about construction in Jerusalem, Efrat or Ramat Shlomo, or about checkpoints, arrests, home demolitions, the army’s “neighbor policy,” bone breaking, land appropriation or the blockade of 1.5 million Palestinians in Gaza?
Avi Shlaim: “My own view is that the Balfour Declaration was one of the worst mistakes in British foreign policy in the first half of the 20th century,” he writes. “It involved a monumental injustice to the Palestine Arabs and sowed the seeds of a never-ending conflict in the Middle East.”
Zvi Barel: None of the excuses to reject Shalit deal holds up
29 November 2009
Hamas proved its prestige in 2006, when it won a large majority in the Palestinian general election. Back then, it did not need an Israeli captive or a prisoner release. It seized authority in Gaza because no party – not Israel nor Fatah, nor the countries of the Quartet – agreed to recognize its esteemed position. Hamas continued to grow stronger as it became clear that without it, there was no point in holding diplomatic discussions on any part of Palestine.
IOA Editor: Barel’s commentary reflects the domestic discussion in Israel on the impending Shalit-prisoners exchange deal.
An Israeli commentator writing on an Egyptian commentator’s position on cultural normalization – the opposite of a Boycott – between Egypt and Israel. Simple it is not: “We have to get to know the enemy, to understand his strengths and weaknesses, so that I can know how he thinks and what he is plotting against us,” he explained, offering an excuse for translations into Arabic.
IOA Editor: Egyptians who read English are welcome to read what Israelis say right here, on the pages of the IOA.
Zvi Barel: As occupier, Israel must face up to Goldstone report
25 October 2009
Goldstone uses the term “continuum,” assessing [the Gaza attack] as part of a chain of events, which also includes the complete closure of the Gaza Strip for three years, the policy of razing homes, the arrests, the interrogations and torture, not only in the Gaza Strip but also in the West Bank and East Jerusalem. In short, Operation Cast Lead is not an “incident.” It is a link in a chain as old as the occupation itself… Goldstone puts the symptom under the microscope and derives the illness. The result is a textbook whose title should have been “A manual for the occupier in the fifth decade.”
IOA Editor: Ground breaking commentary.
