February 20, 2009
by Jim Kouri
On Thursday, loser in the 2004 presidential race and former Vietnam anti-war leader Senator John Kerry (D-MA) arrived in the Hamas-ruled Gaza shortly after two Democrat congressmen visited the terrorist-infested region.     "I came to Gaza to evaluate the situation closely," Kerry told reporters upon his arrival in Gaza. Asked if he intends to meet any of Hamas movement's officials, he said, "No, I have no plans to meet with them."

January 7, 2009
by Daniel Pipes
Jerusalem Post
http://www.danielpipes.org/article/6110

Israel's war against Hamas brings up the old quandary: What to do about the Palestinians? Western states, including Israel, need to set goals to figure out their policy toward the West Bank and Gaza.

January 6, 2009
Ephraim Kam
INSS Insight No. 86
As Operation Cast Lead unfolded during its second week, demonstrations of outrage and protest against the campaign and the attack on the Palestinians marked the Arab and Muslim worlds. Large street demonstrations, media broadcasts and publications, and government spokespeople and public figures called repeatedly for an immediate end both to the operation and the siege of the Gaza Strip.

January 5, 2009
by Hillel Frisch

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY: The Hamas movement has adopted a strategy that is leading to collective suicide on its part. It has miscalculated its strength and its support just about every step of the way. Hamas has erred in ending the six-month ceasefire with Israel; in grossly offending and threatening Egypt; and in its reading of Israeli politics.

January 3, 2009
By Barry Rubin

      A major problem in debating about international issues nowadays is that it is so often hard or even impossible to respect our adversaries. It is quite possible to disagree with someone but to be impressed with their ability in constructing arguments, their grasp of logic and facts, their getting things partly right to the point that it makes you adjust your own thinking. Yet nowadays one is so often confronted with deliberate lies, huge factual errors, and just totally illogical claims.

December 30, 2008
Memri.org

In October 2008, Moussa Abu Marzouq, deputy head of the Damascus-based political wing of Hamas, gave an interview to the Qatari daily Al-Raya [1] in which he expressed surprise at the UAE's demand for sovereignty over the three islands Greater Tunb, Lesser Tunb, and Abu Moussa, which have been in Iranian possession since the Shah's era.