Hello and welcome to issue six of the Verb – as exams are now over and you come out of hibernation you can be sure that we at the Verb have been monitoring what’s been going on over the winter holidays so you won’t miss a thing.

For a print-friendly version of Issue 6, click here.

Your comments are welcome at the bottom of this page, you can also @reply to our Twitter account TheVerbUJS and comment on the UJS’ Facebook group.

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Middle East news

It’s all kicking off in the Middle East. Events in Tunisia and Egypt and the publishing of the ‘Palestine papers’ are keeping eyes around the world firmly fixed on the region.

In January the long-standing Tunisian president Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali was removed by the popular demand of his people fed up with state corruption and ever-rising food prices. This has been popularly reported as the Jasmine revolution. Although western media outlets don’t seem to have reported why this name has been chosen, 

French speaking readers will enjoy reading Frédéric Frangeul’s analysis for the French television station Europe 1. He credits Tunisian journalist Zied El Hani with the name. “The fragrant white flower, a Tunisian emblem, symbolises purity, la dolce vita and tolerance”, he writes.  The UN has reported that over 200 people are reported to have died during the uprising in Tunisia.

These protests seem to have inspired other countries across the region: there have been large demonstrations against the Egyptian president, Gamal Mubarak over the last few days. According to political taste, The Verb readers can follow live blogs on Al-Jazeera, the BBC, the Daily Telegraph and the Guardian. 

Students filling their car up to get around campus might notice an increase in prices at the petrol pumps as oil pushed through $100 a barrel as traders ran scared that the Suez canal might be affected by the protests in Egypt as oil tankers make up 10% of the traffic through the canal each day.

Following similar protests in Jordan, King Abdullah II today fired his entire government in a surprise move designed to pre-empt any large-scale Egyptian style riots and protests.

Both Hamas and the Palestinian authority have quelled pro-Egyptian protests in the last few days in attempt to prevent similar unrest in Gaza and the West Bank.

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Amidst much fanfare, the Guardian proudly launched the Palestine papers last week. Over the last few months, thousands of pages of confidential material detailing eleven years worth of peace negotiations between Israel and the Palestinian Authority have been removed without permission from the offices of the Palestinian negotiation support unit in Ramallah. They were presented to the Arab network Al-Jazeera who then shared them exclusively with the Guardian. Their publication has whipped up a storm of opinion without particularly shedding much light on how a long-lasting peaceful solution might be reached. They are, however, fascinating reading, each document looking like a television script and are well worth a browse. Check out this one for example, which took place in the Sheraton Hotel in Jerusalem – who’d have thought! – which comes after a suicide bomber attack in 2008.

The papers seem to be all genuine and more or less corroborate what the Israeli side claimed took place. For Saeb Erekat, the chief Palestinian negotiator, and Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian Authority president, the publication of the papers has caused much embarrassment as they seem to show the Palestinian negotiators willing to compromise far more extensively in private than they claimed in public, particularly on sensitive issues such as East Jerusalem, settlements and Palestinian refugees.

Many commentators have pointed out that this story is far from sensational and that attempts to cause unrest in the Palestinian territories has failed, largely because when the dust had settled, nothing that had actually been said during the talks was particularly new: yes, compromises had been spoken about, but such is the art of peace negotiations. Palestinian leaders have also been successful in deflecting criticism to Al Jazeera whose Ramallah officers were stormed last week. The PA has also tried to point out that these revelations will only help Hamas but would harm the Palestinian people themselves, a message which appears to have been largely accepted.

The Israeli newspaper Ha’aretz carries an interesting interview with Ian Black, the Guardian’s Middle East editor of the last four years.

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Jews in the news

Film buffs can’t fail to have noticed the huge number of Jewish nominations for this year’s Oscars. Natalie Portman and the Coen Brothers lead the way on this year’s list of contenders.

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Although not lucky enough to be Jewish himself, the comedian Ricky Gervais has been providing the Verb with plenty of interesting discussion material over the last month. Before Christmas he posted a piece in the Wall Street Journal outlining why he is an atheist and attacking those who deny him the right to his belief. Gervais hosted the Golden Globes last month to a mixed reaction, that did include a good joke at Mel Gibson’s expense. Gervais earlier revealed the Mel Gibson joke that the Golden Globe organisers did not allow him to say. It’s much funnier.

Israel news

Ian McEwan, the award-winning English author of Enduring Love, Atonement and On Chesil Beach has been awarded the Jerusalem Prize for 2011. The award is given every two years during the International Book Fair in Jerusalem and recognises “a writer whose work best expresses and promotes the idea of the ''freedom of the individual in society”. It was first awarded in 1963 when the prize was given to Bertram Russell. Anti-Israel groups have denounced Ian McEwan’s acceptance of the award remarking it as "a cruel joke and a propaganda tool for the Israeli state”. McEwan hit back, arguing, “You and I disagree on what one should do. I'm for finding out for myself, and for dialogue, engagement, and looking for ways in which literature, especially fiction, with its impulse to enter other minds, can reach across political divides.” The criticism has followed the same lines as in 2009 when Japanese winner Haruki Murakami was similarly chastised for accepting.

And finally...

It’s not just James Bond’s enemies who use sharks for their dirty work. Bizarre accusations from Egypt have accused Israel of coordinating shark attacks in their waters. If that wasn’t paranoid enough, Saudi Arabia then outdid themselves by accusing Israel of using a vulture for their spy work...