Kook was born in Latvia and was one of the fathers of Religious Zionism. As a rabbi in London, he rallied popular support for the Balfour Declaration. After he immigrated to Palestine in 1919, Kook was appointed rabbi of the Ashkenazi communities in Jerusalem and in 1921 was elected the first Ashkenazi chief rabbi of Palestine. He opposed “Hatikvah” as the Zionist anthem for being too secular but built bridges to secular Zionists.
President Trump and Prime Minister Netanyahu explain their expansive vision for a peaceful Middle East through the implementation of a 20-point U.S. plan to end the Gaza war with the support of many Arab and Muslim countries.
A comprehensive U.S. plan to end the Hamas-Israel war is unveiled eight days before the second anniversary of the October 7, 2023, Hamas attack.
Maya Rezak and Ken Stein, September 30, 2025 Oded Ailam, “Hostages, Rival Clans, and Empty Promises: The Next Middle East Flashpoint,” Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs, September 30, 2025. Neil Bar and Harel Chorev Halewa,…
Divine, Donna Robinson, Politics and Society in Ottoman Palestine: The Arab Struggle for Survival and Power, Lynne Reinner Publishers, Boulder, 1994, pp. 191-215 (with author’s permission, September 2025) This is a rigorous analysis of the struggles of…
Palestinian elites re-engineer antiquity to deny Jewish connection to the ancient Near East. Arguments include denying Solomon’s Jewish Temple, Palestinizing Jesus and appropriating Canaanite ancestry. These and other claims challenge the historical record that Jews were an ancient nation in the Holy Land. With permission of the authors, The Journal of the Middle East and North Africa, May 26, 2025.
In pursuing its central political objective to control and lead the Palestinian Arab quest for statehood, the Palestinian Authority (PA) headed by Mahmoud Abbas is delighted to have multiple countries endorse a two-state solution. Affirming…
December 13, 2023, Poll of Palestinian Arab views, a survey completed two months after Hamas’s October 2023 attack on Israelis, Palestinians praised Hamas actions, with a vast majority not believing that Hamas carried out atrocities…
President Macron’s speech links the end of Hamas-Israeli conflict to the evolution of a of two-state solution. He acknowledges that Israel has the power to end the war and evolve a Palestinian state, asserting that if Israel does neither to the satisfaction of France and her European partners, Israel could pay an undisclosed price. He offers no such penalties to be placed on the PA for its failure to meet its commitments. Once again the Palestinian Arab national movement uses the international community to pressure Israel into concessions. On the same day, Israeli
Prime Minister Netanyahu emphatically rejects the establishment of a Palestinian state west of the Jordan River. The Israeli
parliament in June 2004 rejected any unilateral recognition of a Palestinian state by a 68-9 vote.
Seized by the severity of the Gaza war and nonmovement on a Palestinian-Israeli negotiating process, the U.N. offers a diplomatic road map to end the war and start negotiations. Led by France and Saudi Arabia, it asserts PA primacy as the legitimate Palestinian political representative, addresses possible Palestinian governance reform, seeks to empower a sovereign and economically viable state of Palestine living side by side in security with Israel, and contains other vague PA promises. Israel and the U.S. reject the Declaration. The Israeli government refuses to have outside parties determine the outlines or pace of negotiations with any country because negotiations impact Israeli security today and tomorrow.
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