Current Analysis Walking into Israel's Trap? The most recent Hizballah cross-border attack in the Shebaa Farms area on April 14, and the subsequent Israeli air raid against a Syrian radar station on the Dahr al-Baidar ridge, have heightened fears of a regional conflict between Syria and Israel. These fears are probably unfounded, given the reluctance of Michael Young • 6 min read
Current Analysis Israel Elects Sharon On February 6, Israel elected its first settler prime minister. Premier-elect Ariel Sharon, who has given his negotiators ten days to forge a "national unity" government with Labor, maintains an official residence in Old Jerusalem's Muslim Quarter. In a landslide victory, Sharon received 62.5 percent Oren Yiftachel • 6 min read
Current Analysis The Case of Azmi Bishara Two months ago, Israel's attorney general Elyakim Rubinstein formally accused Azmi Bishara, a prominent Arab-Palestinian member of the Knesset, of endangering the security of the Israeli state. Rubinstein's charges led the large majority of the Knesset, in a potentially historic vote, to lift Bishara's Gad Barzilai • 5 min read
Current Analysis Beyond the Bibi Bill December 18 the Knesset partially amended Israel's electoral law—the so-called "Bibi bill"—allowing Binyamin Netanyahu to run against Ehud Barak for prime minister. The law had stipulated that when a government resigns, as Barak's did December 9, elections are held for the prime ministership only, a Jeff Halper • 6 min read
MER Article Protest Amid Confusion Beginning with Israel’s invasion of Lebanon in 1982 and continuing during the first intifada in 1987-93, large numbers of Israelis took to the streets to express their clear rejection of the state’s military policies. 400,000 people angrily protested Israeli general Ariel Sharon’s complicity in the Efraim Davidi • 10 min read
Current Analysis Hizballah Outside and In Five months after the withdrawal of Israeli forces from south Lebanon, Hizballah refuses to go away. In early October, Hizballah made headlines in its struggle against Israel by kidnapping three Israeli soldiers, and a fourth man, Elhanan Tannenbaum, accused of spying on Israel's behalf. The high-profile abductions were Michael Young • 4 min read
MER Article Spatial Fantasies Rivka, the tragic protagonist of Amos Gitai's new film Kadosh, is unable to conceive a child. Her anxiety is acute. The ultra-Orthodox community of Me'ah She'arim in West Jerusalem, in which Rivka lives with her husband Meir, is known to ostracize its barren women. Seeking spiritual guidance, she le Rebecca L. Stein • 10 min read
Current Analysis Israel's Cabinet Crisis and the Political Economy of Peace Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak postponed this week's cabinet meeting from Sunday to Tuesday in an effort to resolve the crisis prompted by the Shas Party's announcement that it is leaving his government. Shas (Sephardi Torah Guardians), with 17 seats in the Knesset, is Israel's third largest part Joel Beinin • 4 min read
Current Analysis Lebanon: An Occupation Ends Just about everything about last week's Israeli withdrawal from southern Lebanon was surprising to most observers. When, in the early hours of May 24, the last Israeli soldier stepped off Lebanese soil and locked the border gate behind him, he ended a 22-year occupation several weeks ahead of Lara Deeb • 6 min read
MER Article Seeking Sanctuary Israel's Islamist movement's successful campaign to establish a mosque beside the Basilica of the Annunciation in Nazareth has been interpreted in many ways. For much of the western media, it was another Huntingtonian clash between a beleaguered Christendom and a rabidly intolerant Islam. For the Vatican Graham Usher • 8 min read
Current Analysis News Not "Fit to Print" On February 8, at 12:45 am, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) launched a series of air strikes against Lebanon as revenge against recent Hizballah attacks in south Lebanon. Three power switching stations, the most vital electricity facilities in the country, were bombed -- one in the Jamhour district of Jennifer Loewenstein • 7 min read
Current Analysis Israeli-Syrian Talks: Back In a Deep Freeze Israel's terms for peace with Syria as revealed in the Israeli-leaked American document speak of a military redeployment with the settlements remaining in place. While Syria is responding favorably to Israeli demands for normalization and security, Israel's ideas are more a road-map for permanent oc Ghassan Bishara • 6 min read
