peace process

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken gives a press statement in Jerusalem, January 31, 2023. (Emil Salman/POOL)

The US policy world can’t imagine Palestinians as equals

The refusal of American policy figures to consider alternatives to the two-state solution betrays the fact that they will always prioritize Israeli domination.

By Tariq Kenney-Shawa May 11, 2023

Palestinians attend a Hamas rally marking the 32nd anniversary of its founding in the Nusseirat camp in central Gaza City, Dec. 15, 2019. (Hassan Jedi/Flash90)

Why the UK’s blacklisting of Hamas hurts its own peace policy

A motion to label the entire Hamas movement as 'terrorists' is an attempt to score political points at the cost of a peacemaking strategy for Israel-Palestine.

By Hugh Lovatt November 25, 2021

Prime Minister Netanyahu delivers a speech to both houses of Congress in Washington D.C. May 24, 2011. (Avi Ohayon/GPO)

How hawkish Democrats are impeding Biden’s Middle East policy

From the Iran nuclear deal to the Israeli occupation, conservative Democrats are raising the political costs of adopting a more progressive U.S. foreign policy.

By Mitchell Plitnick April 13, 2021

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Israeli soldiers seen near the Gaza-Israel fence as Palestinians protest during the Great March of Return, April 13, 2018. (Sliman Khader/Flash90)

Biden should let the ICC do its job

The White House is right in saying that Palestine is not a sovereign state — under the peace process, Israel and the U.S. made sure it couldn't become one.

By Amjad Iraqi February 9, 2021

Nickolay Mladenov, UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process seen during a visit of UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres (unseen) at the Yad Vashem Holocaust Memorial in Jerusalem August 28, 2017. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

For UN Mideast envoy, ‘peace’ meant placating apartheid

By playing to Israel's interests and ignoring power asymmetries, Nickolay Mladenov helped to normalize the oppressive regime ruling over Palestinians.

By Inès Abdel Razek January 22, 2021

Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres signs the Oslo Accords on the White House Lawn. Behind him are U.S. President Bill Clinton, PLO Chairman Yasser Arafat, Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas and other world leaders, Washington DC, September 13, 1994. (Avi Ohayon/GPO)

How the U.S. made Palestine the exception to the rules of peacemaking

Israel has only ever offered Palestinians two things over the past century — submission or devastation — and the Americans have always backed them.

By Amjad Iraqi February 10, 2020

Senator Chuck Schumer speaks to the 2018 AIPAC Policy Conference in Washington DC, March 5, 2018. (Courtesy of AIPAC)

Chuck Schumer thinks there’s no peace because Palestinians don’t believe in Torah

Which begs the question, instead of pointless negotiations, should Washington embark on a mass proselytizing program? Senator Chuck Schumer, arguably the top ranking Democrat in the United States right now, believes that there is no peace between Israel and Palestine because — well, because the Palestinians don’t believe in the Torah. Speaking at the AIPAC…

By Michael Schaeffer Omer-Man March 7, 2018

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas speaks during a meeting with members of the PLO Central Committee in the West Bank city of Ramallah, January 14, 2018. (Flash90)

Abbas’ speech shows he is burning bridges with the U.S.

Abbas’ attack on Trump and top White House officials signals that he no longer wants the U.S. involved in peace negotiations. Gradual recognition of a Palestinian state is now his preferred course of action. By Elhanan Miller Those who survived Mahmoud Abbas’ tedious history during his speech to the PLO Central Committee on Monday, and avoided…

By +972 Magazine January 17, 2018

Palestinian burning a picture of US President Donald Trump during a protest against US President Donald Trump's latest decision to recognized Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, in Rafah, in the Southern Gaza Strip on December 8, 2017. (Abed Rahim Khatib/Flash90)

Trump’s threats against the Palestinians should worry Israel

The Netanyahu government is celebrating Trump’s recent declaration and threats against the Palestinians as victories, but Jerusalem should wait before opening the champagne. The Trump Administration on Tuesday threatened to withhold millions of dollars in aid that it sends to the Palestinians each year, accusing them of not wanting to negotiate a peace deal with Israel. Nikki Haley,…

By Haggai Matar January 3, 2018

President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu shake hands after giving final remarks at the Israel Museum in Jerusalem before Trump's departure, May 23, 2017. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

Welcome to the new American-Israeli consensus

The peace process, which began ceremoniously on the White House lawn in September 1993, has come to an end. We must find a new way.

By Menachem Klein December 8, 2017

President Donald Trump with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the end of Trump's visit to Israel, May 23, 2017. (Kobi Gideon/GPO)

On Jerusalem, Trump is proving that the Israeli right was right all along

By recognizing Jerusalem as Israel’s capital the U.S. president is boosting the settlers’ argument that in the long run, ‘facts on the ground’ are more important than diplomacy, and that Israel will eventually win legitimacy for its actions — even unilateral annexation. Israeli Defense Minister Moshe Dayan is said to have hesitated before ordering the…

By Noam Sheizaf December 6, 2017

Israeli and Palestinian women from ‘Women Wage Peace’ march near the Dead Sea in the West Bank to demand that their leaders do more for peace, October 8, 2017. (Flash90)

How can women ‘wage peace’ without talking about occupation?

A recent rally organized by ‘Women Wage Peace’ may have looked momentous, yet it ignored 50 years of military occupation, all while recycling the same old tropes about the role of women in violent conflicts. I arrived early and with many reservations to the rally organized by “Women Wage Peace” in Jerusalem’s Independence Park this…

By Orly Noy October 13, 2017

Israeli police fire tear gas at protesting Palestinian youths in the West Bank city of Bethlehem, October 6, 2015. (Flash90)

Everything you think you know about Israeli-Palestinian peace is wrong

Israelis and Palestinians have grown the furthest apart during periods of quiet; it is in times of violence that the two nations have suddenly become flexible in their positions. That defies everything we tell ourselves about prospects for peace, and everything the world has told Palestinians they must do to achieve it. A review of…

By Noam Sheizaf September 20, 2017