Richard Silverstein is a progressive Jewish blogger who shares my view that American progressives, Jewish or not, should take an active independent role in sorting out the mess others have made of the Middle East. Oh Condi and George...is it time for a ceasefire yet? Remember Lebanon where the same duo refused a ceasefire Read More
BEIRUT, Lebanon, Oct. 24—There it is again: a high, ominous, whining-whistling sound, followed by a great explosive BOOM! It’s very nearby this time, perhaps just a few yards beyond the thin wall that separates my tiny garden, with its two scraggly orange trees, from the rest of West Beirut. The impact sets a couple of Read More
BEIRUT, Lebanon, Oct. 24—There it is again: a high, ominous, whining-whistling sound, followed by a great explosive BOOM! It’s very nearby this time, perhaps just a few yards beyond the thin wall that separates my tiny garden, with its two scraggly orange trees, from the rest of West Beirut.
The impact sets a couple of Read MoreTEL AVIV—In the upcoming weeks, myriad Israeli committees and panels will begin deconstructing the Israeli army’s performance against Hezbollah over the summer. But even before the investigators begin their work, a chorus of politicians and experts have started to debate whether Israel’s fight against Palestinian suicide bombers over the last six years has distracted the Read More
TEL AVIV—In the upcoming weeks, myriad Israeli committees and panels will begin deconstructing the Israeli army’s performance against Hezbollah over the summer.
But even before the investigators begin their work, a chorus of politicians and experts have started to debate whether Israel’s fight against Palestinian suicide bombers over the last six years has distracted the Read MoreJERUSALEM, Israel, DATETK?--Fresh from the battlefield in southern Lebanon, disgruntled soldiers from reservist battalion 8101 camped out across the street from the prime minister’s office in a small park and trained their sights on Ehud Olmert. They were there to demand resignations from Mr. Olmert, Defense Minister Amir Peretz and Army Chief of Staff Dan Read More
BEIRUT, Lebanon, Aug. 22—The cease-fire that brought the conflict between Israel and the Lebanese militia Hezbollah to a halt last week is holding—for now—and Beirut’s neighborhoods, though still eerily quiet and free from traffic, are no longer reverberating to the sound of Israeli bombing raids. Of course, I can’t speak firsthand about the sound of Read More
HAIFA—Cpl. Michael Mizrahi’s Merkava tank crew had given up. After an hour-long search through the warrens of the southern Lebanese village of Kila for a Hezbollah missile squad, the tank gunner awaited new orders. Then the anti-tank rocket came bursting out of a nearby school, slamming into the tank’s right flank in between the gunner Read More
On Sept. 12, 1939, John Colville, a junior secretary in the British Foreign Office, wrote in his diary that there was “a feeling of autumn in the air.” World War II was less than two weeks old. “It was unpleasantly chilly as I sat on the balcony in my dressing-gown reading in the papers that Read More
HAIFA—Cpl. Michael Mizrahi’s Merkava tank crew had given up. After an hour-long search through the warrens of the southern Lebanese village of Kila for a Hezbollah missile squad, the tank gunner awaited new orders.
Then the anti-tank rocket came bursting out of a nearby school, slamming into the tank’s right flank in between the Read MoreJERUSALEM, Israel, Aug. 8—Ostensibly, Jordan and Israel are at peace, and have been since 1994, when Jordan’s King Hussein and Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin signed a historic treaty at Wadi Araba. Still, most of the people I spoke to in Amman, where I spent last week, reacted testily, or worse, when I announced my Read More
TEL AVIV—For 16 years, he was Israel’s best friend in Lebanon, a general who commanded a militia of 3,000 that helped the Israeli army keep Hezbollah at bay. At home, he is reviled as a traitor and an alleged war criminal. This week, as fighting raged along the northern border, Antoine Lahad could be found Read More
JERUSALEM, Israel, Aug. 8—Ostensibly, Jordan and Israel are at peace, and have been since 1994, when Jordan’s King Hussein and Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin signed a historic treaty at Wadi Araba. Still, most of the people I spoke to in Amman, where I spent last week, reacted testily, or worse, when I announced my Read More
TEL AVIV—For 16 years, he was Israel’s best friend in Lebanon, a general who commanded a militia of 3,000 that helped the Israeli army keep Hezbollah at bay. At home, he is reviled as a traitor and an alleged war criminal.
This week, as fighting raged along the northern border, Antoine Lahad could be found Read More
The government of Israel appears to suffer from the same mental and moral dysfunctions that afflict the Bush administration: an urge to wage war without any plausible objectives, any viable plan for disengagement, or any rational assessment of costs and benefits. Israel’s second invasion of Lebanon, only weeks old and with considerably more justification, is Read More
