Is Hamas willing to negotiate directly with Israel or not is the question put to Hamas representative in Lebanon, Usamah Hamdan, by The Real News Network. Hamdan responds that negotiations are a political step which depend on political conditions. Until now the political climate has not allowed such a step, he says. Would Hamas recognize the state of Israel if the majority of the Palestinian people supported a two state solution? "If our people accepted anything through a free...
Soon after Israel's war on Gaza ended. Israeli's went to the polls to vote for a new government. During the war on Gaza, many commentators argued that the so-called centrist Kadima government launched the offensive to win Israel's right wing vote in the upcoming elections. It seems that the suffering of the Gazan's may have been in vain. Despite the fact that Kadmia, led by Tzipi Livni won the Israeli election, her party is currently the largest party in the Israeli parliament, but joins 12...
Fazila Farouk - With the Israeli military offensive on Gaza approaching a fortnight of blood soaked bombardment, signs are beginning to emerge that a ceasefire is imminent. Its been said that it will take a few days to hammer out a peace settlement. Until a settlement is reached, Israel continues its attack on Gaza. Believing that she holds the moral high ground in this conflict, Israel has made many claims professing her innocence and honourable intentions. The well-rehearsed mantra repeated by...
Stephen Zunes - The United States bears much of the blame for the ongoing bloodshed in the Gaza Strip and nearby parts of Israel. Indeed, were it not for misguided Israeli and American policies, Hamas would not be in control of the territory in the first place. Israel initially encouraged the rise of the Palestinian Islamist movement as a counter to the Palestine Liberation Organization, the secular coalition composed of Fatah and various leftist and other nationalist movements. Beginning in the early...