Much is said about Palestine-Israel. There is no shortage of reporting, analysis, and opinion. And there is no shortage of expressions of personal commitments to ‘peace’. One need only glance at recent headlines to discover this, especially with another push to reinvigorate the ‘peace process’. 

All crossings between Israel and the West Bank will close for four days over the Jewish New Year, the Israeli army announced Tuesday. Crossings will close between midnight on 7 September and midnight on 11 September, a military statement said. The civil administration would coordinate the passage of medical personnel, NGO workers, and lawyers, the statement added, and those requiring medical attention would be allowed to cross into Israel. 

Can Israel be a democratic and Jewish state at the same time? It's a divisive, long-running debate that has now found its way into the classroom - or rather, it's about to get kicked out of school. Israeli Education Ministry officials have moved to slash funding for high-school civics classes, where students learn about democracy, equal rights and government, and shift the money to religious teachings about the Bible, the Talmud and Zionism. 

Political rivals Hamas and Fatah are united – in anger. But the bite-sized nightly satirical sketches of Watan ala Watar have become a Ramadan sensation, cheering thousands of Palestinian television viewers through the holy month. The show has distracted families from the iftar meal that breaks their traditional daily fast, causing them to abandon half-eaten plates of chicken, lamb and rice for 10 minutes of intensive mockery of their political leaders. 

 

Writers often romanticise their subjects. At times they even manipulate their readers. A book - or any piece of writing for that matter - is meant to provide a sense of completion. Sociological explanations are offered to offset the confusion caused by apparent inconsistency in human behaviour. At times a reader is asked to take a stance, or choose sides. 

Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman said Monday his ultranationalist Yisrael Beitenu Party would block any attempt to extend a partial moratorium on settlements due to expire on September 26. But the Palestinians warned that failure to extend the 10-month halt to most new settlement construction in the West Bank outside occupied Arab East Jerusalem would spell the end of peace talks relaunched with great fanfare in Washington on Thursday.