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OCTOBER 2010 ISRAEL NEWS REVIEW |
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11/1/2010 • Jerusalem |
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Click for my latest Israel news review covering events that took place in the region during October. The main focus is the failure to get the Palestinian Authority to return to the negotiating table. This came as senior PA leaders said they plan to unilaterally declare statehood next year even if there is no final peace accord by then with Israel. The Iranian leader’s visit to Lebanon and a Roman Catholic synod in Rome which questioned Israel’s right to exist are also examined.
I recently finished filming an eight part series on the history of Israel that will be broadcast on the Zola Levitt Presents television program beginning in January. Along with host Jeff Zeif, we filmed on the Golan Heights, at Megiddo, at the smallest portion of pre-1967 Israel near Netanya (only nine miles across and often referred to as the “narrow hips”) in Jaffa, Independence Hall in Tel Aviv and on the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem. My planned tour next May will also visit most of those sites and more…details are posted on here my web site.
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SEPTEMBER 2010 ISRAEL NEWS REVIEW |
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9/27/2010 • Jerusalem |
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Click for this month’s Israel news and analysis report, which looks mainly at a fresh wave of Palestinian violence in Jerusalem and elsewhere in the wake of the resumption of American-initiated Israeli-Palestinian direct peace negotiations. The talks appear to be already on the verge of collapse following the Israeli government’s decision to honor its earlier commitment to end a ten month Jewish building moratorium in the disputed territories. Developments with Lebanon and Iran are also examined, along with Israeli military preparations for a potential new regional war. |
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AUGUST 2010 ISRAEL NEWS REVIEW |
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8/23/2010 • Jerusalem |
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Click for this month’s Israel news and analysis report, written in Jerusalem. It could be titled “War and Peace” since it looks at the background and aftermath of the serous military confrontation which took place in early August between Lebanese Army soldiers and IDF forces, and also the resumption of US-mediated direct peace talks between Israel and the Palestinian Authority. News reports say Israel’s Defense Minister was close to launching a major military operation in response to the Lebanese attack. I examine the prospect that Iran was ultimately behind the border clash, and also a series of rocket attacks on Israeli and Jordanian civilian areas that preceded it. I also take a look at recent developments connected to the ongoing campaign to quash the Israeli naval blockade of the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip.
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JULY 2010 ISRAEL NEWS REVIEW |
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7/26/2010 • Jerusalem |
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Click for my latest Israel news and analysis report. It focuses this month on continuing efforts by pro-Hamas activists to break Israel’s naval blockade of the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip. All of this is coming against the backdrop of a possible regional military clash sometime in the coming weeks or months, as Hizbullah militia forces are significantly beefed up in southern Lebanon, Syria’s leader again speaks of war, and US naval vessels gather in the Persian Gulf off the coast of Iran. Large numbers of IDF military personnel and equipment have been positioned along the Golan Heights border with Syria and near the Lebanese border, as I witnessed with my own eyes when visiting those areas with my tour group last month. Despite this, Israeli government officials say tourism has been flourishing this year, breaking all previous records so far, including for the month of June when nearly 250,000 visitors came to the Promised Land. |
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JUNE 2010 ISRAEL NEWS REVIEW |
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6/21/2010 • Jerusalem |
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Click for my latest Israel News Review, focusing this month on the violent clash between IDF forces and dozens of Turkish Muslim men on a ship in the Mediterranean Sea, and the continuing ripples from that dramatic incident. Some are saying the clash may signal that a new, Iranian-inspired Middle East war may be looming on the horizon. |
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May 2010 Israel News Review |
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5/28/2010 • Jerusalem |
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Click for my latest monthly Israel news update. As the headline declares, it mainly deals with the prospects for war in the Middle East this summer. It has become fairy clear that Iran is working overtime to ratchet up tensions in the region in an apparent attempt to engulf Israeli military forces in local armed conflicts, with the goal being to deflect a possible IDF strike on its rogue nuclear program. While Israeli government and military leaders are preparing for any possibility, as detailed in the report, it seems that they are also doing all that they can to thwart Iran’s nefarious designs. |
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April 2010 Israel News Review |
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4/26/2010 • Jerusalem |
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Click below for the latest Israel news and analysis report, covering several major news items this month. The main focus is on Iran’s nuclear program and related issues. Reports that Syrian Scud D missiles are being smuggled into Lebanon for use by Shiite Hizbullah militia forces is also examined, along with a call from the Palestinian Authority for stepped up "resistance" to Israel |
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March 2010 Israel News Review |
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3/29/2010 • Jerusalem |
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Click for my latest news review covering the most important developments affecting Israel and the Middle East during March. As many of you would have anticipated, this month I focus on the escalating crisis in diplomatic relations between the American Obama administration and the Netanyahu coalition government. Probably not by coincidence, this was accompanied by the worst Palestinian violence in Jerusalem in several years, and the heaviest clashes in the Gaza Strip since the Cast Lead conflict in that area ended on January 18, 2009.
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February 2010 Israel News Review |
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3/2/2010 • Jerusalem |
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Click for my latest Israel news update, covering the most important stories over the past month in Israel and the region. The drama surrounding the killing of a Hamas leader in an Arab Gulf state is the lead story. I also take a look at a series of warlike words that flew during the month between Israeli officials and the leaders of Syria, Iran, Hamas and Hizbullah.
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January 2010 Israel News Review |
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1/25/2010 • Jerusalem |
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Click for this month's Israel News and Analysis Report. There is more talk of possible war in the region amid new attacks from Hamas in the Gaza Strip and a roadside bombing in Jordan. On a better note, much needed heavy rainfall came during the month to the dry and thirsty land. |
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