What State? Whose Authority?

The Boston Review, October 10, 2011 The stage and big screen are ready and waiting in Ramallah’s Clock Square on September 23. Workers unload plastic chairs from a truck. Banners bearing the slogan “Palestine 194” hang from nearby buildings. Preparations are almost set for the public viewing of Palestinian Authority (PA) President Mahmoud Abbas’s speech …

Do the Palestine Papers help the PA?

Maan News Agency, January 27, 2011 The Huffington Post, January 28, 2011 Earlier this week, Al Jazeera revealed the Palestine Papers — 1,600 internal documents that give a behind-the-scenes look at Israeli-Palestinian negotiations. Since then, Middle East analysts, observers, and op-ed writers have been talking about the usual doomsday scenarios: the collapse of the peace …