"IRIS Finally Breaks into Blogging"

Information Regarding Israel's Security (IRIS) was one of the first grassroots organizations to distribute electronic updates on news from Israel to recipients around the world. Launched in 1993 via fax and e-mail, IRIS begin with a series of PLO quote sheets and progressed from there to news briefs and occasional essays.

The website followed shortly thereafter, and over the years IRIS has developed a permanent collection of resources which are hard to locate elsewhere. Most noticeable are the maps of Israel's security situation, Israel's comparative size, and the (over-) generous territorial offers Prime Minister Ehud Barak made in 2000. Also available is a set of background documents on the PLO, including its infamous charter and phased plan.

IRIS has been largely dormant for the past five years, leaving some of its material unfortunately out of date. In anticipation of the imminent implementation of disengagement, however, the IRIS staff have finally gotten their act together. This time, naturally, the medium is the blog.

The IRIS blog, edited by former Israeli radio host Barak (no relation to Ehud Barak!), is now live with frequent updates. For a site on Israeli security, the subject matter is unexpectedly diverse.