While he held the job of President Barack Obama’s peace process envoy, former US Senator George Mitchell generally maintained a good reputation. He came into the job with high regard because of his role in Northern Ireland.
During his Middle East tenure, Mitchell was notoriously tight-lipped, allowing people to believe that behind the stony face was a tough and fair “honest broker” who would privately take Israel to task in ways that the US could not do publicly. Read more about Former Obama envoy George Mitchell comes out as 'Israel's lawyer'
Earlier today, I was at the receiving end of aggressive police behavior during a protest against a company operating in an illegal Israeli settlement.
Along with about 15 activists, I picketed a food fair in Brussels to highlight how SodaStream produces carbonation machines for making soft drinks at a factory in Mishor Adumim, an Israeli-controlled industrial zone in the West Bank. Read more about Police aggression at Brussels protest against Israeli firm
Several months ago, the GOP made a legislative three-ring circus out of the immigration issue. Branding President Barack Obama an addict to extreme leftism, Republicans staged an intervention-performance to prevent him from compulsive granting of amnesty to undocumented immigrants. Read more about A Fake Partisan Fight Over a Fake Palestinian State, Updated
Palestinian officials in Ramallah have condemned Israel’s recently announced decision to expand by 1,100 Jewish-only housing units the illegal settlement of Gilo built on land stolen from the occupied West Bank villages of Beit Jala, Beit Safafa and Sharafat.
But what they say in public is at odds with their private willingless to hand the settlement over to Israel in its entirety.
Condemnation from “chief negotiator”
A 27 September press release states: Read more about Palestinian officials who decry Gilo colony in public, offered it to Israel in negotiations
