It was announced yesterday that Bitterlemons, an online newsletter which has run for eleven years and has provided unique commentary from Palestinians and Israelis, will cease to operate.
This is a significant loss for open and honest dialogue about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Israeli and Palestinian co-founders, Yossi Alpher and Ghassan Khatib, respectively, blamed the closing on the lack of progress and constructive dialogue between the two parties since the Oslo Accords during the 1990s. The “peace process” has become a facade and achieving mutual trust appears impossible.
Moreover, the authors cite that the increasingly fundamentalist and intolerant climate produced by the Arab uprisings has silenced voices of moderation and tolerance. Hence many previous contributors to Bitterlemons have become disillusioned and reluctant to participate.
Writing in the popular blog, Ottomans and Zionists, Michael Koplow examines this issue further here.
Michael Sharnoff, PhD 