As I write you these lines, I hear the cries of the “shabab”, the youth shouting “Allah Akbar” up the street, and the loud reactions of the stun grenades. This is at the top of the Mount of Olives (At-Tur), a few hundred yards only from the Gethsemani Garden, the Cedron Valley, the Golden Gate … More Trouble rising in the West Bank by Yacov I. Claude 2015-04-28
In the gorgeous evening of June 4, 2014, 50,000 people gathered at the Hayarkon Park in Tel Aviv for the legendary Rolling Stones to perform their standard numbers on stage : Tumbling Dice, Doom & Gloom, Gimme Shelter, Sympathy for the Devil, and more. On July 17, at the same place, Neil Young’s scheduled concert … More Gimme shelter by Yacov I. Claude 2014-08-01
No, this is not about Shirin Ebadi, in Tehran. Neither is it about the Dalai Lama, President Carter, or Archbishop Tutu. This time, after Aung San Suu Kyi, detained in Burma by the military, it has been Irish Peace Nobel Mairead Maguire, 65, detained in Israel after being “hijacked” at sea. Upon writing these lines, … More They even arrest Peace Nobels now, don’t they? by Yacov I. Claude 2009-07-09
One more murderous clash on the Gaza border, this past Monday, reminding us how explosive the situation remains there. 4 killed, 12 wounded among the Palestinians, no losses on the Israeli side. Inside the Strip, out of a list of 4,000 « authorized items » (established before the siege imposed in June 2007), 30 to … More Gaza: A two-year siege by Yacov I. Claude 2009-06-17
For a month now, we’ve been without any news from Dr Al Shaer, former Palestinian Vice Prime Minister, abducted from his home in Nablus in the night of April 18th to 19th. Nobody knows where he is being kept. All we know is that he should face Israeli military judges this Thursday April, 23rd. Since … More In the name of The European convention of human rights by Yacov I. Claude 2009-04-21
What should we wait for? A thousand killed? We’re almost there. Ten thousand wounded? Obama’s speech on January 20th? « The acts of Hamas cannot justify Israel’s cruel war against Palestinian civilians » was the title of the Israeli daily Haaretz’s editorial on January 10th. Nothing can justify the murder of a child, the maiming of a … More Gaza: Immediate & Final Cease-Fire! by Yacov I. Claude 2009-01-13
Gaza, besieged for more than a year now, is 1,300 km from Athens as the crow flies, 2,300 km from Rome, and 3,000 km from Algiers and the South of France. Can this distance from Western capitals be what accounts for the confounding silence of the media there? Sarajevo, besieged from 1992 to 1995, is … More Gaza, Mediterranea – 3 week cease-fire – open the doors! by Yacov I. Claude 2008-07-13
Whatever promising speeches and wishful exchanges will have been put forth in Annapolis, if confidence is to be gradually rebuilt between the conflicting sides, unconditional measures must urgently be taken: 1) Open the doors of prisons not according to political and partisan criteria, but according to humanitarian, law-abiding criteria. 2) Adhere to international humanitarian and … More Give Annapolis a Chance by Yacov I. Claude
The Ovi 