Edmonton Journal: Editorial: "Israel hits rough PR waters" (25/1/2011) "Israel has not survived for more than six decades by worrying about international opinion. With proximity to enemies concentrating its attention on security to an extent that no major power has experienced since the end of the Cold War, any government of the tiny Jewish state knows that even small compromises to the poorly informed sensitivities of foreigners can be fatal." Send a letter to editor
CTV.ca: AP: "Hezbollah-backed candidate will be Lebanon’s next PM" (25/1/2011) "The candidate backed by Iranian-allied Hezbollah was designated Tuesday to form Lebanon’s next government, angering Sunnis who protested the rising power of the Shiite militant group by burning tires and torching a van belonging to Al-Jazeera."
National Post: New York Times: "Lebanese riot after PM chosenby Hezbollah" (25/1/2011) "A prime minister chosen by Hezbollah and its allies was poised Monday to form Lebanon’s next government, unleashing angry protests, realigning politics here and in parts of the Mideast and culminating the generation-long ascent of the Shiite movement from shadowy insurgent group to the country’s pre-eminent political and military force." Send a letter to editor
Hamilton Spectator: Gwynne Dyer: "If not peace, another war?" (25/1/2011) "It’s time to think about the nature of the next Arab-Israeli war. The release by the Arab satellite network al-Jazeera of 16,000 leaked Palestinian documents covering the past 10 years of peace negotiations has driven a stake through the heart of the already moribund “peace process,” and we hear constant warnings that when the hope of a peace settlement is finally extinguished, the next step is a return to war. So what would that war be like?" Send letter+ commentWrite also to: Welland Tribune
Hamilton Spectator: Bryan Kerman (letter to the editor) "Israel not serious about making peace" (25/1/2011) "The writer’s comments amount to misleading mischief. To say that the Palestinians would rather continue in their desperate state than accept the right of Israel to exist is just plain illogical. A better conspiracy theory is that Israel, which receives annually something like $15 billion in gifts from Jews abroad and U.S. military aid, would be foolish to stop irritating Palestinian nationalists to keep the pot boiling. Would that someone would give Canada $15 billion every year — in fact, per capita, it would be more like the impact of $70 billion in Canada. When we hear that the Israeli government can offer the removal of settlements from Palestine and will stand down its army of occupation and end its punishing stranglehold on the Palestinian economy, then we will know that Israel is serious about making peace." Send a letter to editorSubmit online comment
Globe and Mail: Simon Rosenblum (letter to editor) "Mideast concessions" (25/1/2011) "Re How Concessions Failed To Move Israel (Jan 24): Rumours have persisted that the Palestinian Authority leadership in 2008 made an unprecedented peace offer to Israel. Now – notwithstanding the strong denials coming from these very same Palestinian leaders – it would seem that on those issues, particularly refugees and Jerusalem, that had prevented a peace agreement in 2000-2001, the PA in 2008 had moved away from their previous deal-breaker positions. The Israeli government of the day, under prime minister Ehud Olmert, was also prepared to make serious concessions. If only Washington had not been asleep at the switch it may well have been able to broker a compromise. Whether the Israeli and Palestinian publics would have supported such a peace settlement is an open question but, if ever there was a missed opportunity for an Israeli-Palestinian peace, this may well have been it."
Globe and Mail: Philip Siller (letter to editor) "Mideast concessions" (25/1/2011) "We are grateful to The Globe for introducing us to a new level of absurdity in Middle East analysis. Apparently, Israel is to be faulted for “failing to respond” to concessions that the Palestinians say they never made. What’s next? A Nobel Peace Prize for Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao for an evacuation of Tibet that never took place?"
Globe and Mail: Brian Henry (letter to editor) "Mideast concessions" (25/1/2011) "You state that the “Palestine Papers … may have a more negative effect on the Israeli leadership than on the Palestinians.” The Palestinian Authority disagrees. PA officials say that, by publishing these documents: “Al-Jazeera has declared war on the Palestinians.” According to Palestinian President M
