Posts Tagged ‘inside story’
US-Israel: Unsettled dispute
March 24th, 2010 • News
Tags: aipac, dispute, ei, inside story, israel, settlements, US
AJE’s Inside Story:
It is the annual conference of the pro-Israel lobby in the US (AIPAC), where Israel and the US have been keen to take the heat off the settlement dispute and re-emphasising their friendship.
Earlier this month Joe Biden, the US vice-president, was in Israel – attempting to restart the indirect Israeli-Palestinian peace effort. But just after he had arrived, the right-wing interior ministry released plans for 1,600 new settler homes in East Jerusalem. The announcement was called insulting to the US and an obstacle to attempts at peace.
But soon after, Hillary Clinton, the US secretary of state, said that the bonds between the US and Israel were “unshakeable.” Both emphasised their friendship but speeches given by Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel’s prime minister, and Hillary Clinton at the AIPAC summit, show that on the fundamentals of the issue, they are far apart.
Can these differences be reconciled, will Israel take the US advice or will it impose its will? And how powerful is the Israeli lobby?
Joining the programme are Meagan Buren, the director of research and training at the Israel Project, John Mearsheimer, a professor of political science at the University of Chicago and author of The Israel Lobby and US Foreign Policy, and Ali Abunimah, the co-founder of the website electronicintifada.net.
Justice for Rachel Corrie?
March 17th, 2010 • Film & Documentary, News
Tags: inside story, israel, justice, rachel corrie
AJE’s Inside Story:
It is publicity the Israelis did not want. They have long been accused of white-washing investigations into the deaths of foreign activists. But now the family of a young American woman is forcing the State of Israel to defend itself in court. Rachel Corrie was crushed to death beneath an Israeli army bulldozer seven years ago, as she tried to stop it demolishing a Palestinian home.
Will the truth about what happened to Rachel Corrie finally be told? And will there be justice for her at last?
Inside Story presenter Shiulie Ghosh is joined by Huwaida Arraf, one of the founders of the International Solidarity Movement, Dan Izerman, the legal affairs correspondent at the Jerusalem Post, and Ian Black, the Middle East editor at the British Newspaper The Guardian.
The EU’s role in the Middle East
March 16th, 2010 • Film & Documentary, News
Tags: al jazeera, EU, inside story, israel, middle east, palestine
from Al Jazeera’s Inside Story:
Striving to make the European Union relevant to the Middle East peace process, Catherine Ashton, the new EU foreign policy chief, visits the region.
Beginning her trip in Egypt on Monday, she is scheduled to visit Israel, Lebanon, Syria, Jordan and the Palestinian territories over the course of the week.
It underscores the European Union’s efforts to better engage in the Middle East.
With an ambitious plan to meet key players in six countries, can the Europeans succeed in what the Americans have failed to achieve over decades? Will the current tension between the US and Israel help or hinder a real European role in Middle East peace process?
Inside Story is joined by Mustafa Barghouti, the general secretary of the Palestinian National Initiative, Richard Youngs, the director general of Fride, a think tank focusing on EU policy. He was previously an analyst at the UK Foreign Office.
Also joining the programme is David Mack, a scholar at the Middle East Institute and a former US ambassador to the UAE.
