JTA: The Global News Service of the Jewish People

All the conflicts fit to print

By Uriel Heilman · September 8, 2008

The New York Times has had several noteworthy pieces on Islamists and Israeli-Arab affairs over the last few days:

• Michael Kimmelman penned a piece on tension in the Gaza Strip between Palestinians’ secular orientation and life under Hamas Islamist rule: ”Watching ‘Friends’ in Gaza: A Culture Clash.”
• The Ethicist, Randy Cohen, answers two readers’ question about the ethical implications of Jews falsely identifying themselves as Christians on visa applications to Arab countries that are hostile to Jews and/or Jewish practice.
• Benjamin Weiser reports on the Palestinian Authority’s effort to fight a $192.7 million judgment against it for a terrorist attack at a bat mitzvah in the northern Israeli city of Hadera in 2002 that left six people dead.
• Isabel Kershner reports that the window for a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict may be closing.
  
• And, finally, from a bit farther afield, the Times’ Sunday Magazine has a distressing but important feature by Dexter Filkins on the complexities of fighting the Taliban on the Afghanistan-Pakistan border. The upshot: It doesn’t look good for U.S. efforts against the Taliban.

0 Comments | Share This | Afghanistan, Gaza, Islam, Israel, Israeli-Palestinian Conflict, Palestinians

Fallen soldier

By Ami Eden · July 7, 2008

The Los Angeles Times reports on the death of Jake Yelner, a member of the U.S. Air Force with Jewish roots:

“He loved wearing the uniform. He loved serving his country,” his mother said. “I’m sure as a 24-year-old he had no idea he was going to die. He went to help the people of Afghanistan, to help build their homes. He’d say ‘Mom, I’m making a difference.’ ”

Yelner, who was Jewish and Puerto Rican, attended Catholic schools throughout his childhood and graduated in 2002 from De La Salle High School in Walnut Creek. He also embraced his Jewish heritage and completed the bar mitzvah coming-of-age ceremony at the Western Wall in Jerusalem, his mother said.

0 Comments | Share This | Afghanistan