Declassified documents from meetings held before and during the Sabra and Shatila massacre in 1982 reveal Ariel Sharon's contempt for Palestinian lives. Published last week by the New York Times, the documents demonstrate the arrogance of Sharon and a young Benjamin Netanyahu in their dealing with American diplomats and officials, who expressed justified concerns over the fate of Palestinians in areas conquered by Israel. The Jewish New Year (Rosh Hashana) also marked the 30th anniversary of the massacre in the Sabra and Shatilla Palestinian refugee camps in Lebanon. At least 800 people, including many women and children, were killed by…

Former Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir passed away yesterday at the age of 96.  To me he will be remembered as the man who loved the status quo. The man who did nothing, and for years. The man who basically taught Benjamin Netanyahu the art of stalling. Shamir can rest in peace knowing his pupil has outdone him in the field of inactivity. Shamir, the man who executed his own Lehi friend for treason. Shamir, the man who said "For Eretz Yisrael, it is permissible to lie." Shamir, the man who said "The Arabs are the same Arabs, and the sea…

How come a decision by the government to built 850 housing units in the West Bank is praised as a move toward peace? The answer has to do with the political theater taking place for decades How bad is this political moment? It's enough to say that a move in which the prime minister announces the construction of 850 new housing units in the West Bank – most of them on the eastern side of the separation wall, the one located on land supposed to be within a future Palestinian state, even according to Netanyahu - has won him praise…

The Americans are convinced Pollard - who spied on behalf of Israel in the 1980's - didn't act alone, and have made it clear that if Israel gives up the other name(s), he can go free. It's been a mystery for many years why Jonathan Pollard is still in prison, why U.S. president after president refuses to pardon him. The reason in the minds of his hardcore right-wing supporters, those who see him as a Jewish hero, is anti-Israeli/anti-Semitic feeling high up in Washington, which is too stupid and rotten a claim to bother refuting. No, it has to be an American belief that freeing Pollard could do further damage to U.S. security, because…

By David Lehrer Those of us who grew up in the United States in the 1960s may remember that period as one of naïve optimism overshadowed by apocalyptic terror.  We were terrified of the possibility that nuclear missiles from the USSR would be launched at us but naïvely believed that if we just crouched down under our school desks and held our heads between our hands we would be safe. We lived in a MAD, mad world, where MAD stood for Mutual Assured Destruction, the military doctrine and foreign policy that guided the strategic relationship between the two superpowers.  The…

A year and a half into Benjamin Netanyahu’s second term, it’s clear that no matter what the Palestinians do or say, this Israeli PM will not sign a final agreement. I don’t think that even the US administration can change that. At most, it could ignite a process that the next government can carry on; much in the way President Bush forced PM Yitzhak Shamir into the Madrid conference. Every Israeli leader is more likely to prefer the statues quo to concessions on the Palestinian issue (I explained why here). But in Netanyahu’s case, stalling the process doesn’t seem to be…