Middle East Monitor - The Latest from the Middle East

Al-Jazeera Center for Research

The Obama administration has made the re-launch of the stalled ‘peace process’ between the Palestinians and the Israelis a top priority in the region with the aim of attaining the two-state solution. For this purpose Obama appointed former senator   George Mitchell to be his special envoy for peace in the Middle East.

Mitchell made, as Obama himself did, strenuous efforts to try to achieve a significant breakthrough in this direction, albeit through the mere resumption of talks. They announced a project that is summed up as follows:
 
1. A total halt to settlement growth
2. The launching of US-sponsored bilateral negotiations
3. Initiating steps by Arab countries to normalise relations with Israel, especially by the kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

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Dispatches: The Children of Gaza
Putting a human face to the tragedy – Re-igniting the call for accountability

On Monday 15th March Channel 4 aired an episode of Dispatches entitled "The Children of Gaza". It focused on the lives of a few of the children living in that small strip of Palestinian land whose lives were devastated when, 15 months ago, Israel launched its military attack on their homes, killing many of their parents and relatives, and shattering their already fragile existences. It showed how they have bravely tried to deal with their losses and bereavements and have tried to move on with their lives, and simultaneously how Israel has ensured that this is well near impossible as a result of the children’s literal incarceration in Gaza due to Israel’s illegal and ongoing siege. The documentary focused on how they have been struggling to deal with the fallout of their physical injuries as well as their psychological scars which, in all probability, they will never fully recover from. For once, this documentary was an opportunity for the children of Gaza themselves to speak out and to tell their own stories instead of it being told on their behalf by propagandists with a vested interest in how these children are portrayed.

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Has American policy towards Israel failed?
American and British newspapers have addressed the recent dispute between the US and Israel from a variety of angles ranging from commentaries on the failure of US policy and anger within the White House to the pressure Israel is currently experiencing and threats to US interests in the region, especially as regards the Iranian issue.

Failed US policy

In its editorial, the Washington Post reported that US President Barack Obama's efforts at diplomacy in the Middle East had failed because he'd entered into an unnecessary and insurmountable public confrontation with Israel over its settlement construction in the West Bank and Jerusalem.

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A MEMO analysis of the British media coverage of the
US-Israel relationship "crisis"
The British media is slowly waking up to the reality of Israel

Finally it seems that the scales are falling from the eyes of the British media and they are seeing Israel for what it truly is; an out of control, rampaging bully. The British press, with a few notable exceptions, rarely pays any real attention to what is happening on the ground in the Palestine - Israel but it seems that they are finally starting to sit up and take notice. This in itself is an indicator of the magnitude of the current crisis unfolding in that part of the world.

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EXCLUSIVE PICTURES
Israel's opening of a synagogue a few meters away from the Western Wall of Al Aqsa Mosque, on Islamic endowment land, was bound to be controversial.

Many Palestinians and, indeed Muslims worldwide, view the act as a sinister prelude to a final assault on Al Aqsa Mosque.  Last week's approval by Benjamin Netanyahu of 1,600 new settler homes near East Jerusalem has contributed to the unrest.

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On the absurdity of a "Palestinian incitement index"
A common blueprint of Israeli hasbara, or official propaganda, is to deflect criticism of its actions in the Occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip by stressing that within the 1948 boundaries, it is a model of democracy incomparable to other societies in the Middle East. The reality however is far from this. In fact, Israel is in the grip of a wave of unchecked racism and incitement, both from a societal and an institutional point of view. It therefore does not come as a surprise that last week, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defence Committee that Israel is going to officially monitor "incitement" within the Palestinian Authority (PA), and periodically issue reports on it.

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Obama's sole option: cut the aid and withdraw diplomatic support to Israel
Israel's ambassador to the United States, Michael Oren, has said that relations between the two countries have entered their worst crisis for 35 years. When the Israeli government announced a plan to construct 1,600 housing units in the Ramat Shlomo settlement in East Jerusalem on the day of U.S. Vice-President Joe Biden's visit to Israel, the U.S. administration reacted with uncharacteristic anger.  Joe Biden, who was visiting the region in order to restart negotiations between Israel and the Palestinian Authority, condemned the Israeli decision more than once and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton used harsher language, describing the announcement as "insulting" to the United States.  Clinton spoke on the telephone to Netanyahu for forty-five minutes in order to rebuke him, demanding that Israel reverse its decision, commit itself to discussing final-status issues such as Jerusalem and the borders of a Palestinian state in negotiations, and undertake confidence-building steps, such as the release of Palestinian prisoners and an easing of the blockade of Gaza.

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Fierce confrontations have broken out in the early hours of Tuesday in many parts of occupied Jerusalem after Zionist settlers opened a synagogue next to Al Aqsa Mosque and declared their intention to lay the foundation stone of the so-called third temple.
 
Some of the fiercest clashes erupted between young Palestinians and the Israeli occupation forces on the outskirts of the Issawiya village, as stones were hurled at the occupation forces who responded with tear gas canisters, stun grenades and live bullets. There are reports of many casualties.

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