JERUSALEM — A throng of paparazzi gathered on Feb. 24 in Petach Tikvah, 20 minutes outside of Tel Aviv, for the unveiling of yet another initiative to solve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. They were attracted neither by the location — a minimalist auditorium of blond wood inside the well-secured and modernly curvaceous glass IBM headquarters — […]
Jeff Mandell
Jeff Mandell is a law student at the University of Chicago. He previously directed the 2030 Center, worked for the Religious Action Center and was a staff writer for the Texas Observer.
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Strike Zone
JERUSALEM — For two months, Israel has teetered on the verge of societal paralysis — not because of the Palestinian intifada but because the Histadrut, the country’s largest labor union and the representative of all public-sector employees, has been threatening a general strike. Zionism’s pioneers had strong socialist inclinations, and they bequeathed to Israel’s current […]
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Grove Situation
EIN ABUS, West Bank — The midmorning sun was already baking hot this past Sunday, but Fauzi Hassan Mohammed Hussein jumped up and down, gesticulating wildly as he screamed in Hebrew and Arabic at three Israeli soldiers standing before him. Hussein was staring through the soldiers, unable to look away from the remnants of his […]
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Fowl Territory
JERUSALEM — The schochet, the Hebrew term for a Kosher slaughterer, reaches into a yellow plastic crate full of white chickens and pulls one out. The chicken looks small, especially its sleek head, but it has wide, sprawled feet, like a puppy with massive paws that foreshadow the big dog to come. Beneath his thick, […]
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Trying To Divine Meaning
Palestinian director Elia Suleiman’s new film, Divine Intervention, is a series of vignettes laced with absurdity and surrealism. The film is racking up awards at international festivals (including a jury award at Cannes), and Suleiman is using his growing celebrity to claim that the movie is more documentary than comedic drama. If his characterization is […]
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Lonesome Doves:
President Bush has finally enunciated his plan for moving forward in the Middle East, though the specifics are far skimpier than the build-up to his address had suggested they would be. According to the president, in the coming months — contingent upon hasty democratization of the Palestinian Authority — an interim Palestinian state should be […]
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A Separate Peace?
On May 11, as the world waited for Israel to invade the Gaza Strip in retaliation for the latest Palestinian terrorist attack, tens of thousands of Israelis rallied against the occupation, against military incursions, and for a return to negotiations. Much has been made of the Israeli public’s rightward drift in the face of the […]