Sharm summit talks expose the devil in the details
How to turn the disaster of the Hamas\’ capture of Gaza into a political opportunity was the main focus of this week\’s four-way summit in the Egyptian resort town of Sharm el-Sheik.
How to turn the disaster of the Hamas\’ capture of Gaza into a political opportunity was the main focus of this week\’s four-way summit in the Egyptian resort town of Sharm el-Sheik.
With a new government emerging in the West Bank, one without Hamas, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert believes that Israel and the Palestinians can resume peace talks from where they left off when Hamas swept to power in national elections 18 months ago.
Was the Six-Day War a blessing or a curse for Israel\’s place in the Middle East and its long-term survival? Forty years on, the jury is still out.
With no end in sight to Qassam rocket attacks on Israeli civilians near the border with Gaza, the Israeli government is preparing for a long struggle against radical, Hamas-led Palestinian terrorists.
More than a week of unabated Qassam rocket attacks on Sderot has created a huge policy dilemma for the Israeli government: What should it do to stop radical Gaza-based terrorists from firing missiles on Israeli civilians and causing pandemonium in the border town of 22,000.
By all accounts, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert should have been history. The Winograd Commission\’s interim report issued April 30 on last summer\’s second Lebanon War could not have been more scathing. The paragraph on the prime minister\’s responsibility for the failures and shortcomings in top-level decision-making speaks for itself.
For the first time in years, serious Israeli-Arab peace moves seem to be afoot. The key mover is Saudi Arabia, and the key document is a 2002 peace initiative that it sponsored.
What happens next will depend on how skillfully the parties maneuver in trying to advance their often disparate agendas.
Even if Olmert is innocent, critics say he won\’t be able to govern because he\’ll be too busy trying to clear his name.
Leaders on both sides are optimistic. They see Olmert\’s moves as part of a new and wider American plan for Israeli-Palestinian accommodation.