Uri Avnery

One of our former Chiefs-of-Staff, the late Rafael ("Raful") Eytan, who was not the brightest, once asked a foreign guest: "Are you Jewish or Christian?"

Now the wall is nearing completion. It is still under discussion in the Supreme Court, but experience shows that that is pretty hopeless. One can still reach the town through an army checkpoint, but even this hole is about to be plugged: the Wall will close off this place, too.

Shall we start with the good news or the bad news? As confirmed optimists, let's start with the good news.

When you see a person walking into a trap, you shout: "Look out!" But when you see a person walking into a trap knowingly, with open eyes, what are you supposed to do?

In 80 pages, 40 of them footnotes and sources, the two show how the pro-Israel lobby exercises unbridled power in the US capital, how it terrorizes the members of the Senate and the House of Representatives, how the White House dances to its tune (if indeed a house can dance)

Yet it is difficult to imagine a bigger difference between two people than that between Sharon and Olmert.

The most dramatic and the most boring election campaign in our history has mercifully come to an end. Israel looks in the mirror and asks itself: What the hell has happened?

The central theme of this article is disgust. Therefore I apologize in advance for the frequent use of this and similar words.

If You want to understand the policy of a country, look at the map!" advised Napoleon. What he meant was: Regimes come and go, rulers rise and fall, ideologies flourish and wither, but geography stands forever. It's geography that decides the basic interest of every state.

A final score of 1:1 may not be the most impressive, but for the youngsters of Bil'in it was a glorious achievement. For them, it was not the result that was important, nor even the match itself (against a team from the nearby town of Betunya).

Only on earthquake can still prevent an overwhelming victory for Kadima in the coming elections.

A political earthquake before an election is an unusual event, but not unknown. A second earthquake in such a period is already rare. But a third earthquake before an election, a short time after the first two - now, that is really scary.

Something bad is happening to the election campaign of Amir Peretz. It is just shuffling around.

Will Ariel Sharon remain in the Likud? Will he leave and set up a new party?

North African immigrants on the periphery of French cities are torching them. North African immigrants on the periphery of Israel this week carried out a democratic revolution in our country.

The present situation is the culmination of a process that started immediately after the Six Day War, when Israel had a historic choice between making peace immediately and trying to annex the land that we had conquered.

This is the man who decided alone to withdraw from Gaza and dismantle the settlements. The man who is implementing this practically alone. The man who will stand this coming week facing a hurricane that has no equal in the history of Israel.

For some weeks now, a red light has been flickering in my mind, illuminating a word in large Gothic letters: Weimar.

So where is the cease-fire? Will Hamas and Islamic Jihad torpedo the withdrawal from Gaza? What is happening to Mahmoud Abbas?

God Help God If He Needs Spokesmen Like These

The car stopped for a moment. An elderly lady pushed her head out of the window and shouted; "Aren't you ashamed of yourselves? Today is Holocaust Day, and you are demonstrating for Arabs?!"

Seven words uttered by President Bush in Brussels have not been paid the attention they deserve. He called for the establishment of "a democratic Palestinian state with territorial contiguity" in the West Bank, and then added: "A state on scattered territories will not work."

It is not very flattering to be paraded like a Rottweiler on a leash, whose master threatens to let him loose on his enemies. But this is our situation now.

Ateşkes barış değildir. İsrail'de sağduyu kazanırsa, nihai ateşkes için görüşmeler derhal başlayabilir. Aksi takdirde, bu ateşkes de daha önceki birçokları gibi, iki çatışma arasında geçen bir süre olarak sona erer.

Perhaps the second intifada has come to an end. Perhaps the cease-fire in the Gaza Strip will develop into a general, mutual cease-fire. We are faced with a road sign pointing in two opposite directions: one end directed towards peace, the other towards the next violent confrontation

Now it's official: "the First Democracy in the Arab World" or "the Second Democracy in the Middle East" has been born.

How the hell did I get into this goddamned mess? I wake up in the morning and can't believe it. What, I, Arik Sharon, am waging a war against the settlers? I, who put them there in the first place? I, who drafted the map of the settlements long before the settlers themselves ever dreamed of it?

Let's imagine for a moment that the huge tidal waves had hit the western shores of Europe, that more than a hundred thousand English, Irish, Dutch, Belgian, French, Spanish and Portuguese had fallen victim to the tsunami, and that the east coast of the United States had also suffered.

"The curious incident is the barking of the dog," Sherlock Holmes remarked. "But the dog did not bark!" exclaimed Dr. Watson. "That is the curious incident!"