MERIP Media Resource List, March 14, 2006

AVAILABLE FOR INTERVIEWS on the following topics:
- Ehud Olmert's unilateral plans for the West Bank
- Israeli raid on Jericho jail and the situation in the West Bank

Olmert's plans for the West Bank :

GARY SUSSMAN
Gary Sussman is director of research and development at the Harold Hartog School of Government and Public Policy at Tel Aviv University. Commenting on Olmert's plans to unilaterally define Israel's border with the West Bank, Sussman proclaims that "Olmert makes good on Sharon's plans." Sussman's prescient and unique analysis of Sharon's (and now Olmert's) goals for the West Bank appeared in Middle East Report Online. In "Ariel Sharon and the Jordan Option" Sussman thoroughly explains the logic of unilateral Israeli measures, how the plans will proceed on the ground and why this path will eliminate the possibility of a viable Palestinian state.

OREN YIFTACHEL
Oren Yiftachel teaches political geography, urban planning and public policy at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Beer-Sheva, Israel. Yiftachel is a contributing editor to Middle East Report and a research fellow at the Negev Center for Regional Development. He said today: "Olmert's recently stated strategies to withdraw unilaterally from parts of the West Bank in order to determine 'once and for all' Israel's final borders are selling Israelis a dangerous illusion. In general terms, no state can unilaterally decide its borders. More specifically, no Palestinian would ever agree to Israel annexing large parts of the West Bank. Hence, Olmert's intentions may be wrapped in words of compromise but they form an attempt to prolong Israel's control over the Palestinians and will most likely exacerbate the conflict."

Israeli raid on Jericho jail :

MOUIN RABBANI
Mouin Rabbani is senior Middle East analyst with the International Crisis Group, specializing on Palestine and the Arab-Israeli conflict, and a contributing editor of Middle East Report . He has published widely on Palestinian issues and travels to Palestine frequently.

GEORGE AZAR
George Azar is an American photojournalist living in Gaza who has covered the Middle East for 23 years, including the Israeli invasion of Lebanon, the Iran-Iraq war, the first intifada and the Gulf war. He is a photographer for the New York Times , author of Palestine, A Photographic Journey (University of California Press, 1991) and photographer of Palestine, a Guide (Interlink, 2005).

Background :

+ Gary Sussman, "Ariel Sharon and the Jordan Option," Middle East Report Online , March 2005

+ Gary Sussman, "The Challenge to the Two State Solution," Middle East Report 231, Summer 2004

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