“Gaza Strip” on The Daily Caller

In his new book on his father Ariel Sharon’s life, Gilad Sharon calls current Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu a “coward” and a “subversive.” (more)

AL-SOUDANIA, Gaza Strip (AP) — The Gaza Strip’s first five-star hotel gleams with marble floors, five luxury restaurants and a breezy cafe overlooking the territory’s white sandy beaches and sparkling blue Mediterranean Sea. The only thing missing are guests. (more)

Egypt lifted a 4-year-old blockade of the Gaza Strip on Saturday, greatly easing travel restrictions on the 1.5 million residents of the Palestinian territory in a move that bolstered the Hamas government while dealing a setback to Israel’s attempts to isolate the militant group. (more)

When Richard Goldstone penned an op-ed published in Sunday’s Washington Post retracting some of what was reported in the Goldstone Report, which has been used to condemn Israel for war crimes in Gaza, it caused quite a stir. (more)

JERUSALEM (AP) — Israel said Sunday it was launching an international campaign to push the United Nations to rescind a scathing report on Israeli war conduct in the Gaza Strip two years ago, after the report’s author backtracked from key allegations against the Jewish state. (more)

Political turmoil in the Mideast is par for the course, and political revolution tinged with religious overtones is a part of ancient Egyptian history. Back in the day, King Tut’s daddy, Pharaoh Amenhotep IV, changed his name to Akhenaten as the proponent of a then-revolutionary proto-monotheism focused on the sun (Aten). In a land with a plethora of gods and plenty of sun, but no Ray-Bans or SPF-anything, this endeavor was doomed to fail. And indeed, for his efforts, Akhenaten was banished from history for 3,000 years. (more)

With Egypt’s authoritarian regime on the cusp of collapse, attention is turning to the new political players that will emerge on the national scene. One group that policymakers should be worried about is the Muslim Brotherhood. The movement has long taken an anti-Western line, supported attacks against Israel and even reached out to Iranian-backed groups. (more)

One democratic uprising or vote does not make a country a democracy. This important point is being overlooked in the debate about the U.S. response to the populist uprisings in Egypt and the Middle East. Pundits have filled the airwaves claiming the United States must choose between supporting “democracy” and governments that are friendly to America. This is a false choice. (more)

“Circumstances (which with some gentleman pass for nothing) give in reality to every political principle its distinguishing color and discriminating effect,” Edmund Burke wrote in his “Reflections on the Revolution in France.” “The circumstances are what render every civil and political scheme beneficial or noxious to mankind.” (more)

“What do you need to know about our situation in the Middle East?” asked Michael Oren, Israel’s ambassador to the United States, at the beginning of an extensive interview with The Daily Caller at the Israeli Embassy in Northwest Washington last Wednesday. (more)

On a February trip to the Middle East, Senate Foreign Relations Committee chairman John Kerry (D-MA) told Qatari leaders that the Golan Heights should be returned to Syria, that a Palestinian capital should be established in East Jerusalem as part of the Arab-Israeli peace process, and that he was “shocked” by what he saw on a visit to Gaza. (more)

RAMALLAH, West Bank — The Palestinian leadership, near despair about attaining a negotiated agreement with Israel on a two-state solution, is increasingly focusing on how to get international bodies and courts to declare a Palestinian state in the West Bank, Gaza and East Jerusalem. (more)

Earlier this month, while motorcades zoomed past our downtown Washington office carrying important dignitaries to supposedly important meetings, you may have noticed that The Daily Caller spared barely a word covering the allegedly new and improved Middle East peace process. And last week, as Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was in the Middle East to further those peace talks, you would have learned little about it by reading TheDC. (more)

My 13-year-old son, who is far more interested in sports than politics, walked into the family room yesterday and said: “Dad, I saw on the news that the thing is starting when all the dictators come to America and give speeches about how bad we are.”  His statement is one of the better descriptions of the United Nations General Assembly (the UNGA) that I have ever heard. (more)

Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will appear with President Obama and Palestinian Authority Mahmoud Abbas at the White House and speak prior to a working dinner in the Old Family Dining Room which will include Jordanian King Abdullah II and Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak. Here is the full text of Netanyahu’s remarks as prepared for delivery:

“I am very pleased to be here today to begin our common effort to achieve a lasting peace between Israelis and Palestinians. (more)

Sixty-five years ago, Friedrich Hayek asked whether there was “a greater tragedy imaginable than that, in our endeavor consciously to shape our future in accordance with high ideals, we should in fact unwittingly produce the very opposite of what we have been striving for?” Sadly, the Obama administration’s Middle East policy is a Hayekian tragedy in the making. The administration’s attempt to pressure Palestinians and Israelis into negotiations — undertaken, no doubt, in pursuit of peace — may well cause another outbreak of violence in the Holy Land. (more)

In an audio message released Sunday, a speaker identified as al Qaeda’s second-in-command offers condolences to the Turkish people on the loss of nine activists in a May 31 Israeli raid on an aid flotilla headed for Gaza. (more)

Even in Israel, the Daily Caller’s “Journolist” exposé has received its share of attention.  The Jeremiah Wright and Sarah Palin email threads were less interesting to Israelis than the Journolist discussion of whether to report on the Islamist background of the Ft. Hood Texas shooter. (more)

This Sunday, former CNN war correspondent and television host Christiane Amanpour will take over as host of ABC’s venerable public affairs show “This Week.”  Her selection for the post, however, has caused a surprisingly potent backlash. Putting aside issues such as the suitability of a foreign affairs reporter for a show on domestic politics and reports of behind-the scenes opposition to her appointment, most of the criticism has concentrated on Amanpour’s political views and her allegedly biased reporting. In one form or another, this kind of criticism has dogged Amanpour for a very long time. (more)

Speaking in Turkey on Tuesday, British Prime Minister David Cameron slammed Israel and called Gaza a “prison camp.” (Apparently Gaza is the first prison camp with luxury shopping malls.) The British Foreign Office has been taking the blame for this betrayal of Israel, but they’re claiming they were as surprised as anyone. Now, a high-placed and knowledgeable source has informed me that it was Obama’s people who put the slamming of Israel into Cameron’s speech. (more)