More in ‘Shimon Peres’

This is the first in a two-part series.
Israel’s left-wing parties, primarily Labor (but also the farther-left Meretz), were dealt a mortal blow by Yasser Arafat’s rejection of the two-state compromises successively offered by Ehud Barak, then Israel’s prime minister, and former U.S. President Bill Clinton, in July and December 2000, and by the Palestinians’ violent ...

Shabbat observance is something I prefer to do at home, with my family and friends. While traveling, I don’t seek a Chabad house for a Shabbat dinner, or blast out an email to see if a friend of a third cousin is in Beijing, or Tokyo, and wants to play host to a wandering Jew. ...

The first instinct of those seeking to explain the rapid deterioration of Turkish-Israeli relations is to find someone to blame. One popular target is the Turkish prime minister, Tayyip Erdogan, the leader of the AKP, Turkey’s increasingly assertive Islamic governing party, who has publicly denounced Israel’s conduct in Gaza and memorably dressed down Shimon Peres ...

Does the road to Ramallah lead through Damascus?
That’s the contention columnist Yossi Alpher makes in today’s International Herald Tribune. (Though he doesn’t mention the Conference, Alper surely hopes the eminences gathered in Herzliya will take stock of his ideas.) Alpher’s case:
Syria’s president, Bashar al-Assad, declares himself ready to deal. A Syrian-Israeli process has a ...

• Led by Rep. Keith Ellison (D-Minnesota), the first Muslim congressman, 54 U.S. representatives signed a letter urging Israel to ease its Gaza blockade. J Street, Americans for Peace Now, and other liberal groups also signed. [Haaretz]
• Standing beside Israeli President Shimon Peres, German Chancellor Angela Merkel announced it was time to stop being polite ...

The diplomatic stand-off between Israel and Turkey, which stemmed from the the Israeli deputy foreign minister’s deliberate humiliation of Turkey’s ambassador, came to a close yesterday when the Turkish prime minister accepted the deputy foreign minister’s formal apology. Where are the various parties left after this?
• WINNER: Turkey. Yes, the Arab and Muslim worlds have ...

• Ever since settlers’ arson last Friday of a West Bank mosque, fears that the Palestinian cause could now take on a more religious tinge and that the conflict could suddenly turn more violent have abounded. [NYT]
• Having demanded most of it all at once, Western negotiators scoffed at Iran’s proposal to trade little bits ...

• Citing the high cost to taxpayers due to his extensive security detail, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu canceled his planned trip to the U.N. climate change summit in Copenhagen. [Haaretz]
• A right-wing chain letter beams over the Jews’ achievements … as a way of putting down those of Muslims. [The Awl]
• The ten best Christmas ...

Psychologist Stephen P. Cohen has made his career as what he calls a “citizen diplomat.” He runs the Institute for Middle East Peace and Development, which he founded, and he’s been working for 40 years to try to help resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, participating in secret negotiations that have included Israel’s Shimon Peres and Moshe ...

• Shalom Rubashkin was convicted of 86 out of 91 fraud charges during his tenure as owner of the Agriprocessors kosher meat plant in Iowa; “combined sentences could reach over 1,250 years,” says the JTA. [JTA]
• Meantime, the Ponzi scheme allegedly perpetrated by Florida attorney Scott Rothstein is growing in scope as the FBI ...