Helena Cobban Is in Israel and Palestine. This is a reporter that can speak the language and can talk to all the players. She is reporting regularly and this is something to follow.

In Jerusalem

JWN readers might like to know that I arrived in Jerusalem yesterday. I'm staying in a very calm hotel in East Jerusalem... Listening to a tinny church bell as I write this, having earlier heard the noon-time call to prayer from the minaret of the Sheikh Jarrah Mosque. I'll be in Israel and Palestine for the next 18 days, reporting on the political developments in both communities-- I 'll be writing a couple of pieces for Salon.com as well as my usual print outlets: the CSM and Boston Review. So it'll probably be hard work, as well as really interesting. The logistics have been just a touch challenging. The hotel here has the funkiest electric sockets, and I've been figuring whether any combination of my plug-adapters can be rammed into them. (Yes-- but it also involves poking a pen into the socket at the same time... Don't ask.) The SIM card in my phone had timed out, and I had to buy a new one. And the zipper on my suitcase got shot. Grrr. But those are minor inconveniences. Mainly, it's just good to be back. I think this is my 10th visit to Israel and Palestine. Back in 1989, Bill and our then-4-year-old and I spent most of the summer here in Jerusalem-- I was doing some research on Palestinians and Israelis and nonviolence.

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Iran, Israel, Palestine

So the Iranian authorities have said they will help the incoming Palestinian 'government' to meet the budget shortfall created by Israel's decision not to hand over the customs revenues that they've been collecting on the Palestinians' behalf (less a 3.5% 'collection fee') for several years now.

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Conversations in Jerusalem, #1

My schedule here in Israel and Palestine is gradually coming together. I decided I needed to get a bit more specific in defining what I want to report while here... Well, that process continues over time, anyway, with serendipity and learning both having their effect on raw intentionality.

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The Hamas perspective

Hamas Chief Whip Mahmoud Ramahi said yesterday that the party would be prepared to have the Palestinians' 'foreign affairs' conducted by the (Fateh-dominated) PLO, rather than insisting that it be the responsibility of the new Hamas-led government of the Palestinian Authority (PA). That was the main highlight of an interview I conducted in Ramullah yesterday with Dr. Ramahi, an Italian-trained anesthesiologist who is the "party whip" for Hamas's new 74-person bloc in the Palestinian Legislative Council.

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Life, logistics, Jerusalem

I am still waiting for my Israeli press card to come through! This is a pain, as I can't get to Gaza without it. But tomorrow I'm going down to Tel Aviv to talk to some folks there.

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