Category Archives: Uncategorized

Northern Sinai: A Desert Playground for Smugglers, Jihadis

Posted on March 31, 2011 by jonathanspyer

13/11/2008 The 25 Egyptian police officers taken hostage by Beduins in northern Sinai on Tuesday have now been freed. The men were released on the Egyptian border with Israel, reportedly unharmed. The freeing of the hostages concludes a series of … Continue reading →

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Israel’s Demographic Timebomb

Posted on March 31, 2011 by jonathanspyer

Guardian- 14/01/2004 Israeli right-of-centre politics is today turned in on itself. The reason for this derives from the prominence in recent weeks given to proposals for unilateral disengagement by Israel from the Gaza Strip and the greater part of the … Continue reading →

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Waking from the Oslo Dream

Posted on March 31, 2011 by jonathanspyer

Guardian- 01/05/2002 Israel is at war. The brief respite afforded by operation Defensive Shield ended with the killings at Adura. As I write, Israeli forces are in Hebron. Here in Jerusalem, once again, the streets are emptying. Tension, fear in … Continue reading →

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7/7: In Memory of Anat Rosenberg

Posted on March 31, 2011 by jonathanspyer

Guardian- 07/07/2006 Writing about a dead friend is not easy. It is made doubly hard when that friend was murdered, in political circumstances. One wants to pay tribute to a face, a smile, remembered words. And one is conscious of … Continue reading →

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This War’s real Masters

Posted on March 31, 2011 by jonathanspyer

Guardian- 14/07/2006 The kidnapping of two Israeli soldiers by Hizbullah on the Israel-Lebanon border and the killing of eight others was an unprovoked act of war. Israel is now involved in a two-front confrontation with well-armed Islamist organisations that have … Continue reading →

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Forget what you think you knew about Israel

Posted on March 31, 2011 by jonathanspyer

Guardian- 29/03/2006 Welcome to the new Israeli politics. You will need to forget a large amount of what you thought you knew about Israel. The clash between Gush Emunim and Peace Now, between Labour and Likud, between the Whole Land … Continue reading →

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Surface squabbles, underlying Unity

Posted on March 31, 2011 by jonathanspyer

Guardian- 11/02/2009 With the final count nearly complete, it is now possible to draw some tentative conclusions regarding the 2009 Israeli elections. The coalition arithmetic remains painfully complex. It is impossible presently to predict with certainty what type of government … Continue reading →

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A Political Earthquake

Posted on March 31, 2011 by jonathanspyer

Guardian- 02/05/2007 We knew that the Winograd report, investigating the failures during last summer’s war with Hizbullah, would be critical of Israel’s political and military leadership. But no one here in Israel expected a political earthquake of this magnitude. In … Continue reading →

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Assad prepares for a long battle

Posted on March 31, 2011 by jonathanspyer

Jerusalem Post, 31/3/11 President Bashar al-Assad’s speech to the Syrian parliament was noteworthy more for what the Syrian dictator did not say than for what he did. Remarks by Assad aides to the media in the last days had raised … Continue reading →

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Israel’s only Option

Posted on March 31, 2011 by jonathanspyer

Guardian- 03/03/2008 The situation of residents of southern Israel in the days and months preceding Israel’s current action in Gaza was clearly intolerable. The Israeli communities of the north-western region of Negev had been absorbing rocket and mortar attacks from … Continue reading →

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