Britannia Radio

November 11, 2010

Op-Eds and Features The Settlement Fixation Just Journalism Executive Director Michael Weiss has written an article for Foreign Policy magazine on why the exclusive international focus on West Bank settlements is the wrong way forward for a two-state solution. Originally published here, the article is reprinted below. Of all the problems bedeviling Israeli-Palestinian peace talks, the status of Jewish settlements in the West Bank -- thrown into the spotlight again this week by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's visit to the United States -- has surely attracted the most attention. But that does not make it the most important or the most pressing issue. Contrary to what many believe, Israelis are largely in agreement over the terms and circumstances under which they would compromise over the settlements -- a consensus that is surely larger than that which exists in Palestinian society over how to reconcile the feuding Islamist and secular nationalist factions in Gaza and the West Bank. While Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas has used settlements as an excuse to disrupt the latest round of peace talks, the open secret in today's Middle East is that the issue is one of the least problematic obstacles to a final-status agreement...Read more>> The Wire Seamus Milne finds Israel guilty on all counts Thurs. 11 Nov. 2010 @ 11.09 Guardian commentator claims that Israeli Arabs accepted Israel as a Jewish state until recently. In his latest contribution to Comment is free, 'The Palestinians of Israel are poised to take centre stage,' Milne argues that as well as persecuting Palestinians in the West Bank, Gaza and East Jerusalem, Israel is also busy doing the same in 'Israel proper' where 'the colonisation goes on': "Palestinian experience inside Israel, from land confiscations to settlement building and privileged ethnic segregation, is not after all so different from what has taken place in East Jerusalem and the West Bank." The characterisation of the leaders of Israel's Palestinian citizenry is equally implausible...Read more>> BBC's selective coverage of UNRWA Thurs. 11 Nov. 2010 @ 13.14 BBC correspondent reports UNRWA's criticism of Israel, but ignores recent stories about the UN body. Today, the BBC's Jon Donnison reported on how the UN has critisised Israel for not doing enough to improve conditions within Gaza, despite easing its restrictions on goods entering the region. According to Donnison, the UN's John Ging told the BBC: 'There's been no material change for the people on the ground here in terms of their status, the aid dependency, the absence of any recovery or reconstruction, no economy'. However, the journalist failed to mention that John Ging is not simply an employee of the UN, but the head of the partisan United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA)...Read More>> Special Event and invite you to a panel discussion on 'How to Stop the De-legitimisation of Israel' sponsored by Click here for more information.