Six months after the Obama administration scuppered Palestine’s bid for UN recognition saying negotiations with Israel should be the path, Americans are returning to the debate about what diplomacy can achieve. Slate organized the sold-out debate on 10th January – speakers’ advance positions are here. In the posting Daniel Kurtzer’s presents his strategy for a negotiated two-state deal

Despite the fear of Gazans that ‘nobody stands with us’, word and picture of the damage caused by Operation Cast Lead and its repercussions have spread far. Here we post an Open Letter by trade unions and NGOs in Gaza, and more personal accounts from the PCHR.

At Rosh Hashanah – Jewish New Year – 2011 the Jewish Chronicle gathered 5 people for a discussion on being Jewish in Britain. For our coming secular New Year, we post this round-table which ranges, calmly and crossly, over identity, Israel, God, anti-semitism, parenthood, judgmentalism, Palestine, the diaspora and much else.

In a interview with AP, Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal (or Meshal) speaks in favour of two-state soution and the ‘tsunami’ power of non-v iolent popular protest. The interview took place in Cairo where Hamas and Fatah are having unity talks

A rally in Tel Aviv last Sunday demanding the expulsion or detention of ‘infiltrators’ – black Africans – was reported by Haaretz, with an embedded video. The report was quickly pulled, but Ali Abuminah kept a copy. His report and the video,1 and 2. The rally was addressed by MK Michael Ben Ari. A sympathetic 2009 interview with him 3rd.

The UN Security Council is expected to vote on 11 November whether to recognize Palestine as a member state, 1st, 2nd article. 3rd, in interview on Jordanian TV President Abbas assesses all he achieved by non-violent means – apart from the still-elusive national independence

Richard Kuper, former chair of JfJfP discusses the phenomenon of diaspora Jewish criticism of Israel’s policies towards Palstinians with David Landy, author of Jewish Identity and Palestinian Rights, Zed Books at SOAS, London on 25 October 2011. (See article by David Landy on his book at http://jfjfp.com/?p=24482)

We post here the first four and the last of 57 testimonies collected by Breaking the Silence through interviews with nearly 40 soldiers who have served in Hebron during thepast three years. There is also video testimony on their website http://www.breakingthesilence.org.il/testimonies/videos/

And the protesters are also crackheads, sex fiends, socialists. Chemi Shalev 1) and Ami Kaufman 2) make the links between J14 , #ows and the global day of action 3) Aly El-Raggal does not make links with other countries but the ways in which young Egyptians organised their revolution share many features with the anti-capitalist protests

There is no intrinsic connection between Jews and the occupywallstreet movement But the large Jewish presence sparked Occupy Yom Kippur, drawing 1000 in which atonement for failing to act on the occupation of Palestine played a large part.. 2 pieces on this, and Ezra Klein/David Graeber and Naomi Klein on the character and aims of this protest

At a conference in Tehran, Hamas leaders restate their view that Palestinian statehood can only follow Palestinian liberation, 1. Showing great consistency over the years, Khalid Mishaal, in a long interview in Palestine Studies in 2008, describes his tutelage in radical politics and Islam and his beliefs now. His views on violence were not mentioned

To the surprise of many, Monday’s news carried pictures of the occupation of Wall Street, with some banners calling for an end to military aid to Israel and deploring the oppression of Gazans. Blogger Max Ajl reports from the scene, and below, an interview with him . 3rd, a report links J14 with occupy wall street (http://occupywallst.org)

A month before Tony Judt’s death last year, Merav Michaeli interviewed the British Jewish historian about Israel (he tried living there but found it parochial, self-obsessed and always using violence as a first resort). His thoughts, centring on Jews and on the actions of states, are pessimistic, angry, invigorating