The Geneva Understandings, the agreement reached recently among a group of dovish Israeli politicians and Palestinians, repeat the mistakes of the 1993 Oslo accord by requiring Israel to make dangerous concessions in exchange for unverifiable Palestinian promises.But the Geneva agreement is even worse than the previous peace initiative, because itRead More
Yes, I know there are important things, perhaps even cataclysmic things, happening in the world. But here in Marrakech their urgency somehow recedes.A well-informed guide delights in a receptive client; ours is a fountain from which everything pours out: political history and art history, sociology and archeology, economics and…Read More
Picture this: A London cafe, February 28, 2001, me with a cappuccino and the International Herald Tribune. I turn to the editorial page, read a column by Richard Cohen of the Washington Post. I scan the rest and instantly realize that Jews wrote five of the six columns: Cohen, Stephen Rosenfeld, Robert Kaplan, Ellen Goodman and Thomas Friedman.TheRead More
Sitting in Tehran, the world must look pretty dodgy.Mohamed ElBaradei, director of the International Atomic Energy Agency, has set October 31 as the deadline for Iran to come clean about its nuclear programs and allow more intrusive inspections. ElBaradei’s report to the United Nations Security Council will be closely read by the European Union,Read More
One American history student recently wrote me that, following a link from the Web log Little Green Footballs, he noticed my “name on a list of ‘known Jews.’ Does it disturb or frighten you to be bluntly characterized as a ‘Zionist American Jew,’” he asked, “or do you take a degree of pride in yourRead More
Seven years ago, Fatima fell in love with the wrong man. Her family would not allow her to marry him. To put pressure on them to change their mind, she had sex with the man and presented her family with a fait accompli. Her strategy did not work. When her father threatened to kill her, she fled to the local police station.Fatima (not herRead More
As recently as 1990, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the South African struggle and the “troubles” in Northern Ireland were considered equally irresolvable. The end of the Cold War brought the softening of old antagonisms and inspired renewed efforts at peacemaking in all three cases. But while South Africa made the transition toRead More
The American health care system is, quite literally, sick.Our health care system was not designed. It was not thought out. It is no more than hundreds of patchwork pieces, stitched together over time. The resulting mosaic is a confusing tapestry — with gaps and pieces dangling in the air, and connections that make no sense, and themes that areRead More
I found out about the death of Edward Said, the Columbia University professor and advocate of the Palestinian cause, from friends in synagogue only on the first night of Rosh Hashanah. I had been too preoccupied with preparations for the holiday to see the news of his passing the day before.That night I dreamt of Said. I had been aRead More
News photos of an ailing John Paul II unable to deliver a speech in Slovakia in September were heart-rending. Unwilling to give up but unable to carry on, the figure of the 83-year-old Polish pope, virtually immobile and slumped in his chair, was a far cry from the vibrant and strapping 58 year old who was elected pope on October 16,Read More
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