Washington Watch

By James J. Zogby    If we've learned anything about President Donald Trump it's that for him words have no meaning, or at least not their obvious meaning. Because he's a performer/salesman, he loves being on stage, knowing that the things he says will get a reaction.  In many instances...

By James J. Zogby   Seth Anziska's "Preventing Palestine: A Political History From Camp David to Oslo" is a deeply insightful and profoundly disturbing book that traces the tortuous path of Middle East peace-making during the past four decades. It was quite painful to read.  Having been a close observer...

By James J. Zogby    In recent weeks, the Trump Administration has taken a series of drastic punitive actions against the Palestinian people. Some analysts have accepted the official White House explanation that many of the actions were done either out of displeasure with actions taken by the Palestinian leadership...

By James J. Zogby During this past week in Washington, the political ideals to which we aspire ran head-on into the reality of the people we have become. It began with the memorial tribute to the late Senator John McCain, whose life was described as being motivated by bipartisan civility...

By James J. Zogby First, the Trump Administration "took Jerusalem off the table." Now, in an especially dangerous display of recklessness, they have announced their intention to do the same for the Palestinian "right of return."   The first indication that this was in the works came  with the administration's announcement...

By James J. Zogby  Thirty years ago, I mounted the podium of the Democratic National Convention in Atlanta, Georgia to open the first ever political party debate on Palestinian rights. Looking out over the convention hall at our 1,500 delegate-supporters wearing "Palestine Lives" T-shirts and carrying "Statehood Now" placards,  I...

By James J. Zogby This past week the New York Times ran an article, "Israeli Airport Detention of Prominent U.S. Jew Prompts Uproar," focusing on the airport harassment received by Peter Beinart, a prominent liberal writer and TV commentator. The article mentioned a number of other American Jews who were...

By Dr. James J. Zogby  Fifty years ago, when I was getting started in national politics, Ibrahim Abu Lughod, a friend and mentor, offered words of wisdom I never forgot. Although he read the New York Times every day (he called it his "daily drug"), he cautioned me not to...

By James J. Zogby  Forty years ago this month I left a tenured teaching position and moved to Washington, DC to run the Palestine Human Rights Campaign (PHRC). It wasn't easy doing Palestine work back then, and Washington was an especially inhospitable city in which to pursue my new vocation. ...

By James J. Zogby  Fifteen years ago, we were still in the early stages of the US invasion and occupation of Iraq, "the war that would change everything." Looking at the Middle East today, I feel an overwhelming sadness as I consider the far-reaching and devastating impact that the Iraq...