Suchergebnisse

To Israelis, Yair Lapid has long been known as his father's son. Tommy Lapid was a famous newspaper and TV journalist, the founder of a now-defunct secular political party, Shinoui (Hebrew for 'Change'), and Minister of Justice under Ariel Sharon. In short, Tommy Lapid was one of the leading lights of his generation. Yair, born in 1963, followed in the footsteps of his remarkable father, who died in 2008, by pursuing a career as a journalist before going into politics and setting up the centrist party Yesh Atid ('There is a future' in Hebrew ) in 2012. Like his father, Yair enjoyed rapid success, his party placing second in the January 2013 general election. He was immediately appointed Finance Minister, a key partner of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in the coalition government, and has already made his mark. In this exclusive interview, he describes his personal vision of Israel, and candidly admits to an ambition to lead the government within a few years. Adapted from the source document.

Hamas' leaders rarely speak publicly. So we particularly appreciated this interview w ith Mahmoud Zahar, who agreed to speak with Aude Marcovitch for Politique Internationale. He retraces the journey that led a young Palestinian doctor to an involvement in trade union activism and then to 1987, when he was instrumental in the formation of Hamas, a national resistance movement with religious underpinnings. Like Islamic Jihad, also based in Gaza, Hamas makes armed confrontation with Israel the foundation of his doctrine. I refuses to recognize the Jewish state and rejects the principle of a negotiated solution to the conflict. Having served briefly as Foreign Minister in the government led by Ismail Haniyeh in 2006 and 2007, Mahmoud Zahar is considered Hamas' number-two leader in Gaza and one of the Islamist party's more stubborn hardliners. Adapted from the source document.

The former foreign minister of the Palestinian Authority was one of the negotiators who attempted to get the peace process back on track several months ago. However, in the face of the Obama administration's inconsistency, as it first pushed to restart negotiations and then visibly lost interest, and the intransigence of the Israelis, who, under Benjamin Netanyahu, are determined to give up nothing, Nabil Shaath and his colleagues finally threw in the towel. Their withdrawal from the negotiating process in no way signifies that they have renounced any hope for peace, quite to the contrary. But to move forward, they say, a different government must first come to power in Israel. In the meantime, the Palestinians will continue the fight in the legal arena. Wherever they can demand recognition of their rights-the United Nations, the International Court of Justice, etc.-they will seek recourse against the state of Israel. Adapted from the source document.

Interview with Avigdor Lieberman. What was your childhood dream? Were you already thinking of politics? No, not at all. When I was a child, I rather thought of becoming a writer or screenwriter in Hollywood! I think the real change came when I was a student at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem in the late 1970s and early 1980s The climate was a little like that of France in May 1968. To say the least, there was a lot of commotion on campus. But here in Israel, it was the first violent confrontations between radical Arab and Jewish student movements. We led a very active life and many who were taking courses while at the same time as I became parliamentarians or members of government, Tzachi Hanegbi as Yisrael Katz or even Azmi Bishara who has been accused of spying and eventually fled to Qatar. With Azmi Bishara, it was the fight from day one. We had no conversations: we were just fighting, you really beat. It is these events that led me to politics. Adapted from the source document.

At the head of the celebrated Mossad for eight years, Meir Dagan was considered the best informed man in the world. In this interview with Aude Marcovitch, he agreed to share his knowledge with the readers of Politique Internationale, in particular his reading of the major issues facing the Middle East: Iran's nuclear program, civil war in Syria, relations between Iran, Syria and Hezbollah, Israeli-Palestinian negotiations, the Arab Spring, reshuffling of the Egyptian political scene, etc. His take on these and other issues is that of a seasoned insider, a position he enjoyed for many years. In a quiet voice, speaking between the lines, he sketches the future shape of this region that never seems to emerge from its turbulence. Adapted from the source document.