Category Archives: Kosovo

From HAARETZ Four years ago this Friday, on Friday, February 17, 2008, the Republic of Kosovo declared its independence. This move, which followed years of failed international efforts to broker a compromise settlement between Kosovo and Serbia, won wide international recognition by all the major Western powers, including the United States, Canada, Germany, the United Kingdom and France. Not, however, by Israel. Indeed, four years later, Israel has yet to recognize the Balkan republic. And while there are undoubtedly more pressing issues on Jerusalem’s foreign policy agenda, its failure to recognize Kosovo constitutes not only a needless diplomatic error, but more »

Interesting developments in Kosovo, regarding the preservation of cultural memory in a newly awakened national identity. The Jewish cemetery in Pristina has featured heavily in the news over the past 12-months. It is a familiar story, often heard across Eastern Europe: Jewish cemetery/memorial vandalised-authorities pledge action-action fades over time-back to the beginning. Yet, what I believe to be striking about the agreement between U.S. Secretary of State Hilary Clinton and Kosovo’s President Atifete Jagger, is the question of memory ownership. Indeed, it seems memory can bought, traded, and even used as a form of international diplomacy. Thusly, we must ask: more »

By Nebi Qena from The Associated Press Click here for the article as printed in Forbes.com PRISTINA, Kosovo (AP) — A row of tombstones etched in Hebrew script neatly lines a meadow overlooking Kosovo’s capital Pristina where barely a week ago children played soccer. For a week, U.S. students from Dartmouth College joined their Kosovo peers from the American University in Kosovo in clearing debris and cutting overgrown grass at this neglected Jewish cemetery, a lone remaining sign of a dwindling community in this majority Muslim country. Ever since the end Kosovo’s 1998-1999 war, these graves — some of them more »