The Progressive and Transnational.org July 9, 2014
The right-wing Israeli government took advantage of the murder of three Israeli teen members of an Israeli settlement in the occupied West Back to whip up ultra-nationalist sentiments, engage in a new wave of repression in the occupied West Bank.
Category: Israel and Palestine
Israel and Palestine
U.S. Culpability in the Failure of Israeli-Palestinian Peace Talks
Foreign Policy In Focus June 5, 2014, also by Huffington Post and Uruknet, then a revised version July 6 by the Santa Cruz Sentinel, republished by Antiwar.com, Common Dreams, FreedomsPhoenix, and Znetwork.org
How the state Assembly tries to limit what I can teach
The Santa Cruz Sentinel & Transnational.org January 25, 2014
In preparing my syllabus for my introductory course on the Middle East this semester, it gives me pause the California Assembly is still on record declaring that discussing certain well-documented historic incidents in modern Middle Eastern history should “not be tolerated in the classroom.”
Attacks against anti-occupation activism increase
National Catholic Reporter, July 22, 2013
A version was also published by the Santa Cruz Sentinel July 12 as “California legislators attack UC anti-occupation activists.”
Israel, Syria and the United States
Truthout May 13, 2013: Zunes’s review of the last decade of Israel, Syria and US relations — culminating in Israel’s latest bombing raid on Syria — details cross-purposes and missed opportunities.
More Zunes Syria articles.
More Zunes Syria articles.
Interview: Scope of Syrian War Widens Following Deadly Israeli Strikes on Damascus (audio)
Free Speech Radio News May 6, 2013
Last week’s Israeli airstrikes [killed] least 100 Syrian soldiers… a UN human rights commission investigating the alleged use of chemical weapons in Syria said it had “no conclusive findings.” Read Stephen Zunes’s article, “The US Has No Credibility Dealing With Chemical Weapons”
Last week’s Israeli airstrikes [killed] least 100 Syrian soldiers… a UN human rights commission investigating the alleged use of chemical weapons in Syria said it had “no conclusive findings.” Read Stephen Zunes’s article, “The US Has No Credibility Dealing With Chemical Weapons”
Don’t Blame the Iraq Debacle on the Israel Lobby
Santa Cruz Sentinel March 29, 2013 | UPDATED: Sept. 11, 2018
[Republished by Foreign Policy In Focus/Institute for Policy Studies and Truthout] This month’s 10th anniversary of the U.S. invasion of Iraq raised the question why the U.S. made such a tragic choice. As many of us argued in the lead-up to the war, claims that Iraq possessed “weapons of mass destruction” the Iraqi government had operational ties to al-Qaida were false. Similarly, the corrupt and repressive sectarian government the U.S. helped establish in Baghdad has undermined any pretense the war was about promoting democracy.
Israel’s settlements outside official border flout international law
National Catholic Reporter January 19, 2013
In mid-December, Israeli officials approved plans for the construction of more than 2,600 new homes to be built on Givat Hamatos, a hill on the outskirts of Israeli-occupied East Jerusalem. This settlement would be the first major new Jewish neighborhood in Jerusalem outside of Israel’s internationally recognized borders since 1997…
U.S. policy on Gaza crisis rife with contradiction
National Catholic Reporter December 19, 2012
The Obama administration’s reaction to last month’s Israeli onslaught on the Gaza Strip is emblematic of its policy contradictions.
The No State Solution (video)
Alternative Focus video September 10, 2012
The No State Solution is the latest contribution from Alternate Focus to examine the Israeli-Palestine conflict. This 28-minute video first explores political barriers to any solution, and then possible resolutions. The video features interviews with Dr. Stephen Zunes (Professor of Politics and International Studies at the University of San Francisco), Miko Peled (author of “The General’s Son”), and Jeff Warner (Jewish peace activist in Los Angeles and author of this review), interleaved with the filmmakers narrative are abundant modern and archival clips… [Also at YouTube]
U.S. policy at U.N. hurts prospects for Israeli-Palestinian peace
Full Article. [Source is no longer available. Related links].
Up until the mid-20th century, the time at which nonwhite, non-Western nations could be free, their specific boundaries and the conditions of their independence could only be gained through negotiations between the colonial occupiers and approved representatives of the conquered peoples. It was not the purview of the UN or any other international legal authority to adjudicate such matters, since the rights of those in the colonies were limited to what was willingly agreed to by the colonizers.
Abetting the Carnage in Gaza
Foreign Policy In Focus/Institute for Policy Studies, November 26, 2012
The Obama administration’s unconscionable decision to block a ceasefire effort by the UN Security Council not only resulted in additional civilian deaths but also serves as an indication that, despite the president owing his re-election to the hard work of his progressive base, his foreign policy will continue to lean to the right. Related links.
Can U.S. Citizens End Israel’s Legal Impunity?
YES! Magazine November 21, 2012. Republished by Baltimore Nonviolence Center, Common Dreams, Transcend.org and Transnational.org: The great wish of the early Zionist leader Theodor Herzl was that Israel would be treated like “any other state.” Were that the case, there might be more rational and productive discourse regarding the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, which is particularly critical in light of Israel launching yet another devastating attack against civilian-populated areas.
Interview: The Palestine / Israel Conflict: The Root Causes of the Occupation and the US Involvement (audio)
KPFA Pacifica Radio: Letters and Politics
Source is no longer available online. Find more Zunes Radio interviews and other related links.
Democratic Leaders Undermine Israeli-Palestinian Peace and Their Own Procedures
Foreign Policy In Focus/Institute for Policy Studies, Sept. 6, 2012.
By Stephen Zunes. Also by Antiwar.com, Reddit and Transnational.org.
In a stunning violation of its own rules, the wishes of the majority of delegates at its national convention, and positions taken by the UN and virtually every other country, Democratic Party leadership pushed through a platform amendment with barely half the delegates present and, allowing for no discussion or debate, stating, Jerusalem “is and will remain the capital of Israel,” and should be “undivided”…
California State Assembly Seeks to Stifle Debate on Israel
Foreign Policy In Focus/Institute for Policy Studies, August 30, 2012. Republished by Huffington Post, Transnational.org, et al. The California State Assembly has just passed a bipartisan resolution (HR 35) by voice vote, which constitutes a serious attack on academic freedom and the rights of students and faculty to raise awareness about human rights abuses by U.S.-backed governments. While purporting to put the legislature on record in opposition to anti-Semitism on state university campuses, it defines anti-Semitism so widely as to include legitimate political activities in opposition to Israeli government policies.
U.S. Shares Responsibility for Rachel Corrie’s Death
Foreign Policy In Focus/Institute for Policy Studies, August 30, 2012. by Stephen Zunes; Republished by Antiwar.com, Common Dreams, Eurasia Review, Transnational.org, and others. On August 28, an Israeli court rejected a civil lawsuit against Israeli occupation forces for the 2003 murder of Rachel Corrie, a 23-year-old American peace activist killed in the Gaza Strip, upholding a severely flawed internal Israeli military investigation. Amnesty International strongly condemned the decision…
Divesting from All Occupations
Foreign Policy In Focus/Institute for Policy Studies July 25, 2012.
Republished by Transnational.org et al.
In response to ongoing violations of international law and basic human rights by the rightist Israeli government of Benyamin Netanyahu in the occupied West Bank and elsewhere, there has been a growing call for divestment of stocks in corporations supporting the occupation… Still, the campaign has scored notable successes…
Interview: Arab Revolutions, U.S. Middle East Policy, Iran, and Israel-Palestine (audio)
KPFT Pacifica: Arab Voices Radio July 11, 2012
Dr. Stephen Zunes’ segment begins at 14 minutes.
Bipartisan Assault on Middle East Peace
29 May 2012 Foreign Policy In Focus/Institute for Policy Studies
Also: Huffington Post, Antiwar.com, Rise Up Times, Salem News (Oregon) and interviewed on The Scott Horton Show.
Earlier this month, the House of Representatives passed 411-2 a dangerous piece of legislation (H.R. 4133) which would undermine the Israeli-Palestinian peace process, weaken Israeli moderates and peace advocates, undercut international law, further militarize the Middle East, and make Israel ever more dependent on the U.S.