by Gary Gerofsky

Let’s make it simple by calling the Fatah — Hamas marriage “Fatas” for the sake of brevity. Fatas is no peace movement and does not follow the teachings of Ghandi nor Martin Luther King.

And yet recent headlines from the left and emanating from would-be conquerors in the Palestinian camp would have us believe otherwise, read: Israel fears Palestinian nonviolence, Here comes your non-violent resistance, Non-Violent Resistance.

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By Fern Sidman

In an address aimed at placating his disgruntled Jewish supporters, President Barack Obama told his audience of over 10,000 at the annual AIPAC policy conference in Washington on Sunday that “a strong and secure Israel is in the interest of the United States and the bond between our two vibrant democracies must be nurtured.”

Taking intense criticism from pro-Israel supporters since he delivered a significant Middle East policy speech on Thursday in which he called for Israel to negotiate a future Palestinian state based on the 1967 borders. He also referred to Palestinians living under Israeli “occupation” but sought to heal wounds by enumerating actions taken by the US to foster Israel’s security.

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by Phyllis Chesler

Two Muslim mothers, both widows, both living in Uttar Pradesh in India, helped each other murder their grown daughters, Zahida, 19, and Husna, 26, for having committed the crime of marrying Hindu men.

They held their daughters down and slowly strangled them to death. The poor dead darlings actually believed they were entitled to marry non-Muslim men and for “love,” and that ultimately their mothers and Muslim community would accept them back. This is typical of many honor killing victims. While these two young women knew enough to contact the police for help — and the police actually got their mothers to sign an agreement that they would not “harm” their children — it was only a deceptive piece of paper. But the daughters’ longing for reconciliation and naive hopefulness was their undoing. Their mothers agreed not to hurt them and sweet-talked them into returning; once the girls were home, they became prey for the kill.

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by Janet Doerflinger*

How well did Middle East studies professors at American universities interpret the Egyptian uprising, particularly the risk of the Muslim Brotherhood gaining power? Among fifteen prominent professors who commented publicly on the uprising before and immediately after Mubarak’s ouster, fully thirteen believed that overthrowing Mubarak would lead to democracy in Egypt and that the Muslim Brotherhood would play a constructive role. Instead of explaining the Brotherhood’s Islamist agenda to the American public, they naively discounted it.

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by Daniel Pipes*

In a much-touted speech today bearing the modest title of “Remarks by the President on the Middle East and North Africa,” Barack Obama responded to the Arab revolt of the past five months with elements of common sense and even eloquence (”through the moral force of nonviolence, the people of the region have achieved more change in six months than terrorists have accomplished in decades”). He also defined a U.S. policy in support of reform and against violence I find worthy of discussion and debate.

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By Fern Sidman

On Wednesday evening June 1st, American Friends of Ateret Cohanim/Jerusalem Chai will celebrate Yom Yerushalayim (jerusalem Day) at their 32nd annual dinner at Terrace On The Park in Queens. This year outstanding individuals who have dedicated themselves to the re-building of a Jewish presence in the Old City of Jerusalem will be accorded honors as will those known as “Jerusalem’s Heroes”; the intrepid residents of the Old City, Kidmat Zion, Maalei HaZeitim and the Yemenite Village, without whom none of this could be possible.

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By Gary Gerofsky

Terrorists at war with Israel made their way across Israeli borders this past week. The Nakba, an annual celebration of violence for violence and with violence, is reminding us once again that one side in this conflict will never stop until they have pushed Jews into their Nakba-fueled incinerators. At the same time, Obama is crafting and about to deliver another speech on how Americans must respect Islam and help Muslims to solve all their problems. America, under Obama, is spearheading the effort to help the Muslim Middle East as its loyal ally, financier and servant. Arab politicos will, no doubt, take advantage of his kind offer while they laugh at his naiveté and see this as further confirmation that their objectives and methods are always appreciated and rewarded by the appeaser-in-chief.

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by Raymond Ibrahim*

One of the problems with Obama’s Middle East speech was that parts of it were so deliberately balanced — so meant to appease all sides — that they go nowhere. For example, look at the portions where he discusses democracy in the Middle East versus the alternative — Islamist rule, which he does not name. One sentence seems to say that a “true” democracy is necessary, only to be followed by one that seems open to Islamist rule, and so on. Consider the following excerpts:

Not every country will follow our particular form of representative democracy, and there will be times when our short-term interests do not align perfectly with our long-term vision of the region.

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by Efraim Karsh*

In the opening episode of the iconic series Boardwalk Empire, Nucky Thompson, Atlantic City’s bootlegging strongman, tells a group of pro-prohibition women activists a gutwrenching story about his abject childhood, ravaged by the vagaries of alcoholism. Asked by his driver, a young aspiring gangster, about the story’s veracity, Thompson retorts: “The first law of politics is to never let the truth get in the way of a good story.”

This episode comes to mind upon reading Mahmoud Abbas’s recent New York Times op-ed. Turning the saga of Israel’s birth upside down, the “moderate” PLO chairman and president of the Palestinian National Authority says not a word of the Jewish acceptance of Palestinian Arab statehood, as part of the UN partition resolution of November 1947, let alone the violent Palestinian response to the resolution. Instead he reminisces on his childhood in an attempt to turn aggressors into hapless victims and vice versa.

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By Fern Sidman

On Monday, May 16th, FOX news personality and conservative talk show host Glenn Beck announced his intention of organizing a major rally in Jerusalem that is scheduled for August. During his morning radio program, he reminded his listeners of his previous rally, held in Washington, DC on August 28, 2010 called “Restoring Honor” which drew hundreds of thousands of people. Mr. Beck exhorted “all decent people and people of faith” to join him in Jerusalem in a rally called “Restoring Courage”. Having recently returned from a trip to Israel, where he visited the Temple Mount, he said upon his departure, “The Temple Mount almost pulsated. I could feel it.”

Glenn Beck in Israel - May 2011

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By Malcolm Pearl, CIS.org

Malcolm Pearl is a pseudonym for a Foreign Service officer who has served abroad as a consular officer.

Summary

One aspect of the debate over immigration concerns how to curb the number of children born to temporary or illegal alien residents in the United States who then become U.S. citizens, based on the current interpretation of the 14th Amendment to the U.S Constitution. Trying to pass legislation that changes birthright citizenship rules likely will face several legal and political challenges. A smaller step that can go long way in reducing the problems associated with this practice, and one fraught with fewer potential land mines, is to amend the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) to detect, deter, and penalize foreigners who come to the United States on tourist or other temporary visas for the purpose of giving birth and returning home. Presently there is no prohibition, nor concerted U.S. government effort to stop, individuals from taking advantage of our liberal citizenship policies in order to make their children instant U.S. citizens.

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by Phyllis Chesler

I have just received news of an astounding and unexpected “first.”

Scholars for Peace in the Middle East, (SPME) a group which represents 55,000 scholars, researchers and students on 3,500 campuses across the world has just written to every Board of Trustee member at the City University of New York (CUNY) about the Kushner/Wiesenfeld cause célèbre. They are the first group of scholars to weigh in on another side–perhaps even on the “other” side. SPME is  horrified by the way in which a private Board member’s views became public so quickly and by how quickly the Trustees caved into the goon-squad tactics of the left intelligentsia and the media.

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By Barry Rubin

“Please release me let me go
for I don’t love you anymore
To waste our lives would be a sin
Release me and let me love again.”

–”Please Release Me Let Me Go”

Perhaps the most important policymaking development of the last month has been President Barack Obama’s increasingly visible loss of a lot of the foreign policy elite, including considerable segments of the State and Defense departments. Why this is happening is one of the most interested-and highly neglected-stories of this period.

Consider the factors involved:

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by Daniel Pipes*

I predicted a few weeks ago that Arab upheavals might inspire Palestinians to shift “away from warfare and terrorism in favor of non-violent political action. That could include massive non-violent demonstrations such as marching on Israeli towns, borders, and checkpoints.”

Right on cue, on what Palestinians call “Nakba Day,” a rejection of Israel’s gaining independence on May 15, 1948, mass activity took place in a coordinated and unprecedented fashion today. A New York Times headline aptly summarizes events: “Israel Clashes with Protesters on Four Borders,” being those of Lebanon, Syria, the West Bank, and Gaza.

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By Barry Rubin

Amr Moussa, probably Egypt’s next president, has given a comprehensive picture of his views, a foretaste of the likely policies of someone about to become the Arab world’s most powerful person. One thing he said is particularly important and shocking. Read on.

Moussa, former Egyptian foreign minister (1991-2001) and head of the Arab League until his resignation takes effect on May 15, is a figure from the Egyptian establishment and the old regime. But which aspect of the old regime: that of the centrist Husni Mubarak, the moderate Anwar al-Sadat, or the radical Arab nationalist Gamal Abd al Nasser?

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