The rule of law is not something that can simply be talked about, or even instituted, and then left to its own devices. In human history, there are far more examples of governments and powerful entities of all sorts circumventing, defying or simply not tolerating law than there are of such bodies committed to upholding it. The guarantor of the rule of law has always been civil society.

The myriad and labyrinthine methods Israel has employed to "legalize" or, sometimes, to simply be brazenly defiant about its settlement activities are well known in Israel, though not so much here in the United States. The best in-depth description of these processes can be found in Idith Zrtal's and Akiva Eldar's book, Lords of the Land: The War Over Israel's Settlements In the Occupied Territories, 1967-2007.

But Israel is a country that holds by the rule of law, even if, like many countries, it evades or defies law at times. Few would argue, I think, that the court system has not been the strongest part of Israeli democracy over the years. And now it comes before the court that the settlement has flouted a basic principle of law: that of rights to property. This is a right enshrined deeply in Israeli law. More than that, even with each announcement of expanding settlements, Israeli leaders always repeat the mantra that they will not displace any Palestinians with the new construction.

That has been well known to be untrue for some time, but...

On a warm day in early April, I was in a jeep cruising along the main highway running from north to south in the West Bank. This particular road is, for much of its length, open to travel for vehicles bearing both the yellow license plates identifying it as Israeli and the green and white plates identifying a Palestinian vehicle.

It was the middle of the week and midday, a time when highways are generally not packed but have significant traffic, usually consisting of commercial vehicles and people heading to some job or meeting somewhere. Yet I saw perhaps one vehicle every four or five minutes.

The reason for this absence of traffic is simple. Israelis have bypass roads, which they much prefer to use instead of the main highway because of a history of shooting attacks on Israeli cars during the height of the second intifada. And Palestinians simply have nowhere to drive to because of the lack of commerce in the West Bank.

There is, of course, no explicit prohibition by the Israeli authorities on commerce. But the system of checkpoints and closures and various other day-to-day restrictions, combine with external factors to severely limit Palestinians' livelihood. To be sure ongoing violence means that Israel must take steps to ensure the safety of its citizens. But, when one sees an economy this comatose, it is important to ask if sufficient care is being taken to minimize the impact on the overwhelming majority of Palestinians who are innocent of...

[Note to my readers: If you're interested, Zeek Magazine asked me to write an article on teh occasion of Israel's 60th anniversary. Click here to read it--M]

In the realm of Israel-related politics, there is always a new group, and a steady stream of new books on the market. But there are some recent books and a new organization that folks should really be examining carefully.

BOOK: The Much Too Promised Land by Aaron David Miller

There is no end of reasons for anyone interested in Israel and Palestine to read this book. Miller worked for the State Department for a quarter century, under six different Secretaries of State and five presidents. The two Camp David summits essentially bookend his career.

The book is a veritable fountain of insight into American Middle East diplomacy. Miller never loses sight of both the political complications of attempts to bring peace to Israel and its neighbors, nor of the human elements that are such a vital part of diplomacy.

Unusual for a book of its kind, The Much Too Promised Land is exceptionally well-written and fully engages the reader throughout. It's that rarest of creations, a book of politics and history that's also a real page-turner.

Miller gives us priceless material on a quarter-century of American engagement in the Middle East; is unsparing in his criticism, including of himself; but is also quite clear in his praise. One gets a really good picture of what worked and what didn't and why. We...

When we talk about the way civilian populations are used as pawns, there is no better example than the people barely surviving in the Gaza Strip. Events this week showed just how little regard anyone, including their own ostensible leaders, has for their well-being.

The previous week, an attack at Nahal Oz, site of the crossing through which Israel supplies fuel to the Strip, had the predictable effect: Israel suspended fuel supplies for several days. It is inconceivable that the perpetrators were unaware that a cutoff would be the result. Hamas did not actually carry out that attack, but they fully supported it, calling it heroic.

In an incident that got very little media coverage this week, snipers began firing at the Kerem Shalom crossing. The crossing was then, quite properly, closed and the supplies that had been going into Gaza that day were halted, cutting the day's supply roughly in half. The much more elaborate attack at Kerem Shalom on Saturday will surely mean that supplies into the Strip, already inadequate, will slow to a trickle.

In all of this, Hamas claims it is acting to force Israel to lift its siege on Gaza. After the Nahal Oz attack, they stated that the goal of the perpetrators was to kidnap an Israeli or two (which is, in any event, a war crime, no matter the cause, as taking hostages, as opposed to prisoners of war, is strictly and absolutely forbidden under international law) in order to force...

Sitting here in Jerusalem, it has never been so clear to me how badly Jews in the Diaspora have failed Israel. And the time to reverse that course and come to Israel's aid is growing very short.

For all my experience in study of the history and politics of Israel and the US-Israel relationship, to which I've devoted the past twenty-five years, every time I come here, it remains an emotional experience, one which never fails to clarify matters for me.

But this time, I'm seeing an Israel in crisis. The tension is always palpable, but it is even thicker than usual now. Whispers of war with Syria, even if that is almost certainly not going to materialize, combine with waiting for Hezbollah to take the action it's been threatening since the assassination of Imad Mugniyeh to raise that heat in Israel.

Ongoing qassam fire, now coupled with sniper attacks, the latest aimed at Public Security Minister Avi Dichter which wounded one of his aides, has forced residents of the southern Negev to live in a state of almost permanent red alert.

Meanwhile, the people of Gaza remain trapped between Israel, Hamas and the Palestinian Authority in a power struggle whose chief result has been the deterioration of the already awful conditions in the Strip. On the West Bank, the fanfare which greeted the promised removal of one major checkpoint and 50 road barriers has not had much effect on the ground. Being that there are over 580...