How surrendering Palestinian rights became the language of “peace”
27 Jan 2010
rr r r r rr r rr r rr r rr rr rrr rThe 1993 Oslo agreement did not only usher in a new era of Palestinian-Israeli relations but has had a much more lasting effect in transforming the very language through which these relations have been governed internationally and the way the Palestinian leadership viewed them. Joseph Massad comments.

“I was supposed to be born in a villa by the sea”
26 Jan 2010
rr r r r rr r rr r rr r rr rr rrr rAtef Abu Saif took his grandmother’s stories of Jaffa to heart. These memories and these stories are the only treasure and wealth of the refugee. They are the sole inheritance for the children of the dispossessed generation. Memories of what once was. Stories of what ought to have been. Marryam Haleem writes.

Book review: Avi Shlaim’s “Israel and Palestine”
26 Jan 2010
rr r r r rr r rr r rr r rr rr rrr rWhen prolific writers compile a decade or more of their writing in a single collection, changes in style, political outlook, or interpretive tendencies are readily apparent. Consistency in all these respects is visible too. While Avi Shlaim’s latest book—Israel and Palestine: Reappraisals, Revisions, Refutations reveals such changes and continuities, his analytical gaze suffers from a blind spot when it comes to the ideology upon which Israel was founded. Max Ajl reviews for The Electronic Intifada.

My family’s ongoing Nakba story
26 Jan 2010
rr r r r rr r rr r rr r rr rr rrr rOne of the most traumatic effects wrought upon Palestinian society by the 1948 Nakba, or the dispossession of historic Palestine, is the physical separation it forced upon Palestinians, between those in the diaspora and the refugees, between those living in the Palestinian territories occupied in 1967 and those who became citizens of Israel. Yet this process is ongoing to this very day, and targets even individual families. Mohammad Alsaafin details how Israel is preventing his family from seeing each other through its restrictive ID system.

New York Times fails to disclose Jerusalem bureau chief’s conflict of interest
25 Jan 2010
rr r r r rr r rr r rr r rr rr rrr rThe New York Times has all but confirmed to The Electronic Intifada (EI) that the son of its Jerusalem bureau chief Ethan Bronner was recently inducted into the Israeli army. Over the weekend, EI received a tip suggesting this had been the case and wrote to Bronner to ask him to confirm or deny the information and to seek his opinion on whether, if true, he thought it would be a conflict of interest.

Israel’s PR exploitation of Haiti aid
25 Jan 2010
rr r r r rr r rr r rr r rr rr rrr rDespite logistical problems, the 12 January earthquake in Haiti has seen much of the “international community” pull together to provide food, doctors and other emergency aid for the already poverty-stricken country. But the disaster has also provided apologists for the State of Israel’s human rights abuses an opportunity to try and grab high moral ground. Sarah Irving comments for The Electronic Intifada.

Gaza families fight to visit relatives in Israeli prisons
25 Jan 2010
rr r r r rr r rr r rr r rr rr rrr rUmm Faris Baroud of Shati refugee camp in western Gaza City wakes up early every Monday in the hope that she will be allowed to visit her son Faris, serving a life sentence in one of Israel’s prisons. “For the past two and a half years I have been able to visit Faris,” she explained. “Every Monday, I participate in a weekly protest along with many other families including mothers, wives and children of detainees, at the office of the International Committee of the Red Cross.” Rami Almeghari reports for The Electronic Intifada.

Israel upgrades settlement college to university
25 Jan 2010
rr r r r rr r rr r rr r rr rr rrr rEhud Barak, Israel’s defense minister, approved last week the upgrading to university status of a college in a settlement located deep inside the West Bank, a move certain to further undermine Palestinian confidence in the peace process. The decision, authorizing the first Israeli university in Palestinian territory, is expected to entitle the college to significant extra funding, allowing it to expand its student population. Jonathan Cook reports.

Gaza’s thin red line one year later
22 Jan 2010
rr r r r rr r rr r rr r rr rr rrr rDuring last winter’s invasion of Gaza, Israeli forces killed 16 medical rescuers, four in one day alone. Another 57 were injured. At least 16 ambulances were damaged with at least nine completely destroyed. In a special report for The Electronic Intifada, Eva Bartlett speaks with Gaza’s emergency medical workers one year after the massacres.

“Palestinian journalists can’t work freely or safely”
22 Jan 2010
rr r r rr r rr r rr r rr r rr rrr r”Being a journalist is the most dangerous work in the world,” says Palestinian photojournalist Nayef Hashlamoun, “especially being a photojournalist or a photographer. We work under risk every day, especially in conflict areas like Palestine or Iraq, especially if you have soldiers who feel that you are from the other side, not from their side.” Sarah Irving reports for The Electronic Intifada.

Lebanon activists launch campaign targeting Egypt’s “wall of shame”
21 Jan 2010
rr r r r rr r rr r rr r rr rr rrr rThe Campaign to Stop the Wall of Shame, a newly-formed activist movement based in Beirut, Lebanon, held a press conference this morning to publicize the Arab Contractors construction company’s role in the building of an underground steel wall along the Egypt-Gaza border.

Israel threatening, arresting and deporting to crush dissent
21 Jan 2010
rr r r r rr r rr r rr r rr rr rrr rRAMALLAH, occupied West Bank (IPS) – Israel is lashing out at international criticism and attempting to crush local dissent in what appears to be growing sensitivity to reproach of its policies. Several recent incidents have dominated media headlines, including the arrest of a Jewish-American journalist on the grounds of security, threats by an Israeli minister against international diplomats and the arrest of Israeli and Palestinian peace activists.

“Jerusalem is in danger”
21 Jan 2010
rr r r r rr r rr r rr r rr rr rrr rOnce again, Israel resorts to show trials. Sheikh Raed Salah, a prominent political and religious leader of the Palestinian minority, was sentenced on 13 January by an Israeli court to nine months of imprisonment. This is his second conviction in recent years. This time the allegation was that he assaulted a policeman and obstructed police work during a demonstration at al-Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem. Nimer Sultany comments for The Electronic Intifada.

“Humanity cannot be divided”: Gaza shows solidarity with Haiti
20 Jan 2010
rr r r r rr r rr r rr r rr rr rrr r”We have been living a man-made disaster actually for the past 62 years,” said Palestinian parliamentarian Jamal al-Khudari, a chairman of the Gaza-based Committee to Break the Siege. “We would like to send out a message of solidarity to the people of Haiti, who are now facing a natural disaster.” Rami Almeghari reports from the occupied Gaza Strip.

Zionism’s destabilizing force: “Israeli Exceptionalism” reviewed
20 Jan 2010
rr r r r rr r rr r rr r rr rr rrr rIn his new book Israeli Exceptionalism: The Destabilizing Logic of Zionism, M. Shahid Alam successfully argues that the moral force behind the Zionist movement is a sense of Jewish, and consequently Israeli, exceptionalism. This claim of exceptionalism underpins what he calls the “destabilizing logic of Zionism.” According to Alam, Zionism “could advance only by creating and promoting conflicts between the West and the Islamicate.” Ahmed Moor reviews for The Electronic Intifada.

Israel steps up arrests of grassroots activists
20 Jan 2010
rr r r r rr r rr r rr r rr rr rrr rWhile prominent protest and boycott organizers from the Palestinian organization Stop the Wall Jamal Juma’ and Mohammad Othman were released last week after nearly one and four months of detention respectively, nightly arrests continue in the West Bank, with eight more arrests on 18 January in the West Bank village of Nilin.

Santana: Don’t entertain Israeli apartheid!
20 Jan 2010
rr r r r rr r rr r rr r rr rr rrr rThe Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel to musician Santana, scheduled to perform in Israel this summer: “Your gig in Israel will be a clear contribution to Israel’s well-oiled campaign to whitewash its persistent violations of international law and basic Palestinian rights through ‘re-branding’ itself as an enlightened and cultured country.”

Lebanon tightens control over Palestinian refugee camps
19 Jan 2010
rr r r rr r rr r rr r rr r rr rrr rNAHR AL-BARED, Lebanon (IPS) – Recent inter-factional clashes in Lebanon’s Ein al-Hilwe refugee camp once more illustrated the fragile security situation in some of its Palestinian camps. Lebanese plans to take over security within the camps are rejected by the Palestinians. Ein al-Hilwe and other refugee camps are home to various Palestinian nationalist groups, but also host different Islamist forces that the Lebanese government considers a threat to the state’s security and stability.

Israel jails Palestinian peace activists
19 Jan 2010
rr r r rr r rr r rr r rr r rr rrr rRAMALLAH, occupied West Bank (IPS) – Israel has long argued that Palestinians should pursue their political objectives in a nonviolent way. However, several prominent Palestinian peace activists have recently been arrested and jailed for doing just that. Abdallah Abu Rahmah, 39, the coordinator of the Bilin Popular Committee, which has challenged Israel’s illegal expropriation of Palestinian land both in an Israeli court and a Canadian one, has been charged with “illegal arms possession, stone throwing and incitement.”

“We are all complicit”: an interview with Ewa Jasiewicz
19 Jan 2010
rr r r rr r rr r rr r rr r rr rrr rA year ago, Israel launched its invasion of Gaza. Dubbed “Operation Cast Lead” by the Israeli military, the invasion started on 27 December 2008 and finished on 18 January 2009. During those 23 days, more than 1,400 Palestinians were killed including more than 320 children. Originally from England, Ewa Jasiewicz was one of a handful of “internationals” on the ground during the entirety of the attacks. Frank Barat spoke to Jasiewicz for The Electronic Intifada.

Boycott the 2010 Tel Aviv International Student Film Festival
19 Jan 2010
rr r r r rr r rr r rr r rr rr rrr rThe Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (PACBI) and the Palestinian Students’ Campaign for the Academic Boycott of Israel (PSCABI) call on students, lecturers and filmmakers to boycott the 13th International Student Film Festival, scheduled for June 2010 in the city of Tel Aviv. PACBI and PSCABI believe that this festival, as with similar cultural initiatives supported by the Israeli government, is openly designed to whitewash the crimes of Israeli apartheid.

Fighting our way to Gaza
18 Jan 2010
rr r r rr r rr r rr r rr r rr rrr rI should have known that my trip to al-Arish was not going to be straightforward. The last time I set foot in the usually sleepy Sinai tourist town, just 40 kilometers away from the Egypt-Gaza border (or, should I say, iron wall of oppression) at Rafah was back in March 2009, when I met up with the first Viva Palestina convoy. Ten months later, another convoy was on its way to the besieged Strip. Jody McIntyre writes from al-Arish, Egypt.

Nahr al-Bared’s economic recovery hampered by military siege
18 Jan 2010
rr r r rr r rr r rr r rr r rr rrr rMore than two years after the end of the fighting, the war-torn Palestinian refugee camp of Nahr al-Bared, located in northern Lebanon, is far from the model the Lebanese government has promised the camp would become. Instead, reconstruction of the camp is delayed, the area is a military zone with restricted access, and the camp’s economy is stalled and residents are largely unemployed. Ray Smith reports for Electronic Lebanon.

Marriage under siege close to impossible
18 Jan 2010
rr r r rr r rr r rr r rr r rr rrr rGAZA CITY, occupied Gaza Strip (IPS) – “If we had money we’d get married right away,” says Samir, 23. He has found his bride, but not the money to hold the wedding. The Israeli siege imposed shortly after Hamas’s election in early 2006 has ruled out marriage for many. Palestinians traditionally marry young, between 18 and 25, but more and more now pass their mid-twenties single.

In Lebanon refugee camp, “hip-hop is a school”
15 Jan 2010
rr r r rr r rr r rr r rr r rr rrr rHip-hop has got hold of the Burj al-Barajne camp in Beirut. As the music from a small but nascent rap-scene reverberates around the streets of this crowded community, its rappers are acutely aware of their position to foster not just musical change, but social change. Rasmus Bogeskov Larsen reports.