By Michael Felsen BOSTON, Massachusetts: Can the youthful energy, passion and idealism that fuelled the Arab Spring and the Israeli social justice protests salvage the two-state solution for Israelis and Palestinians? Judging from the voices heard at a multi-generational gathering in Geneva two weeks ago, there is reason to believe they can. On Nov. 22, Swiss …

By Michael Felsen BOSTON, Massachusetts: There’s something very disconcerting about a recently conducted Israeli public opinion poll. The survey, undertaken for the Israeli newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth at the beginning of this month, revealed that 66 percent of Israeli Jews don’t believe that there will ever be peace with the Palestinians. In the same poll, 88 per …

By Michael Felsen BOSTON, Massachusetts; As the turbulent winds of the Arab Spring continue to blow, and efforts to bring a September vote in the UN General Assembly to recognize the Palestinian state pick up steam, the urgency of a final status Arab-Israeli peace agreement increases by the day. After decades of false starts, missed opportunities, …

By Michael Felsen BOSTON, Massachusetts: As echoes of the ouster of Israel’s “cold peace” partner, Hosni Mubarak, reverberate throughout the Middle East and beyond, the people of Israel are now faced with various permutations of what are effectively two choices: they can hunker down, assume the worst and hope to maintain some semblance of the status-quo …

By Michael Felsen Jamaica Plain, Massachusetts: As we enter 2011, there seems to be little cause for celebration about prospects for peace in the Middle East, especially following the breakdown of US-brokered negotiations upon Israel’s resumption of West Bank settlement construction in September. Since then, US efforts to restart the talks, including a generous package …