Ira Sharkansky

By Ira Sharkansky JERUSALEM–For those of us more interested in world affairs than sport, “The Great Game” was the competition between British and Czarist Empires for Afghanistan and other parts of Central Asia, with implications for India and access to the sea, that prevailed through much of the 19th and into the 20th centuries. Israel […]

By Ira Sharkansky  JERUSALEM–Numbers are not everything in the assessment of public policies, but they can at least justify questions about the efforts officials are making in X as opposed to Y. The X in this case is the dispute between Israel and the Arabs. The Y is greater violence close to the Mexican border

By Ira Sharkansky JERUSALEM–National holidays are occasions for reflection. The linkage of Memorial Day and Independence Day was designed to focus on the miseries and hopes of being Jewish and Israeli, so there should be no surprise that they work on our emotions, this year as in the past. Memorial Day is heart wrenching stories of

By Ira Sharkansky JERUSALEM–He ain’t stupid. Stubborn is not all that bad. Neither is pressure. The subject is Barack Obama. Signs are that he is backing off from saying that he expects early compliance with his demands on Israel and Palestine. “. . . even if we apply all our political capital to that issue,

By Ira Sharkansky JERUSALEM–The Holocaust leads all other tragedies in the extent of its commemoration. Numerous countries have an annual observance on January 27th, the anniversary of the day in 1945 when the Soviet Army liberated the largest Nazi concentration camp at Auschwitz. Some of them also commemorate Israel’s observance in the Spring. It comes

By Ira Sharkansky JERUSALEM–Israel returned from its Passover vacation, and unburdened itself of several files awaiting release from one official body or another. The scandal of the Holyland apartment development gained more weight with the detainment of another real estate mogul, said to have bribed local planning officials with respect to that project, and officials

By Ira Sharkansky JERUSALEM–The news was not good when Barack Obama opened his newspapers upon returning to work from his Easter holiday (assuming that the American president had a holiday, beyond a family photo-op at church). From Afghanistan: There are no good options on the horizon, many analysts say, for reining in Mr. Karzai or

By Ira Sharkansky JERUSALEM–This is the season sacred to both Jews and Christians. Passover and Easter are arguably the formative events of both communities. To this skeptic, there is no chance that the Easter story of resurrection is historically accurate. There may have been some historical incidents behind the biblical story of the Exodus, but

JERUSALEM–It’s too early to panic, I hope. President Obama returned to his sweeping demand that Israel stop construction in post-1967 neighborhoods of Jerusalem, extend the construction freeze in settlements outside of Jerusalem beyond the ten months agreed, and take other steps to bring the Palestinians to negotiations. Comments at a high tone have come from

By Ira Sharkansky JERUSALEM–It may be time for Barack Obama to visit the Knesset. Anwar Sadat’s visit in 1977, and his opening words “In the name of God, Mr. Speaker of the Knesset, ladies and gentlemen . . .I come to you today on solid ground to shape a new life and to establish peace.