Breakdance breaks out in the Gaza Strip14 Jul 2009rr r r rr r rr r rr r rr r rr rrr rBreakdance, the hip hop dance style that began on the streets of New York City more than 30 years ago has become popular with youth all over the world, even breaking through the tight Israeli blockade imposed on the Gaza Strip. Rami Almeghari reports for The Electronic Intifada.
Music, The New York Times and the politics of a Palestinian state14 Jul 2009rr r r rr r rr r rr r rr r rr rrr r”Just as it is apparently impossible for the President of the United States to visit the Middle East without a corresponding visit to Buchenwald, it is apparently also impossible to have a news article on Palestinian humanity without a corresponding reminder that Arabs do not understand the Holocaust.” So writes Belén Fernández in a comment on how The New York Times covers the work of Palestinian musicians.
Is Israel guilty of piracy?13 Jul 2009rr r r rr r rr r rr r rr r rr rrr rWhen the Israeli navy seized the Spirit of Humanity and its 21 passengers on 30 June, did the commandos commit acts of piracy under international law? Civil rights attorney Radhika Sainath argues that the laws of piracy should not be selectively applied to poor Africans who hijack huge tankers belonging to rich corporations, but enforced against Israel as well.
HeidelbergCement tries to sell West Bank mines as legal, boycott pressures grow13 Jul 2009rr r r rr r rr r rr r rr r rr rrr rHeidelbergCement, one of the world’s largest manufacturers of building materials, is reportedly trying to sell its Israeli investments as it has become the target of legal action because of its activities in the Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPT). Adri Nieuwhof reports for EI that the move comes amid growing pressure by the boycott, divestment and sanctions movement on transnational companies profiting from Israeli occupation.
Argentinian singer urged to cancel performance at Israeli festival11 Jul 2009rr r r rr r rr r rr r rr r rr rrr rThe Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (PACBI) is writing to express its grave concern about your upcoming appearance in the “Festival Argentina-Israel” in Israel on 14 July. As an artist with a great following because of your commitment to justice, we are writing to urge you to cancel your participation in a festival sponsored by a state that is complicit in some of the worst human rights abuses of our modern era.
The victory of defeat10 Jul 2009rr r r rr r rr r rr r rr r rr rrr rWhile Israel has been buying yet more time with Washington in bickering over a paltry settlement freeze, it has been forging ahead with the process of creating two Palestinian territories, the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, that, despite supposedly emerging from occupation, are in reality sinking ever deeper into chronic dependency on Israeli goodwill. This is creating a culture of absolute Israeli control and absolute Palestinian dependency, enforced by proxy Palestinian rulers acting as mini-dictatorships. Jonathan Cook comments.
Sheikh Jarrah residents refuse to be displaced10 Jul 2009rr r r rr r rr r rr r rr r rr rrr rFawzieh al-Kurd, 57, clad in black, spends her days on a promontory overlooking Tomb of Simon the Righteous in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood of East Jerusalem. Enduring the cold of winter and the summer’s blazing sun, she relates her family’s tragic story to visitors from around the world with dignity and resolve. Marcey Gayer writes from occupied East Jerusalem.
Study: Tel Aviv University part and parcel of the Israeli occupation9 Jul 2009rr r r rr r rr r rr r rr r rr rrr rA study prepared by the School of Oriental and African Studies Palestine Society outlines Tel Aviv University’s (TAU) intensive, purposive and open institutional contributions to the Israeli military. The briefing paper presented irrefutable evidence of TAU’s deep investment in the facilitation and prosecution (at both the material and conceptual level) of what amount to war crimes.
Destroying Gaza9 Jul 2009rr r r r rr r rr r rr r rr rr rrr rRecently, I spoke with some friends in Gaza and the conversations were profoundly disturbing. My friends spoke of the deeply-felt absence of any source of protection—personal, communal or institutional. There is little in society that possesses legitimacy and there is a fading consensus on rules and an eroding understanding of what they are for. Sara Roy comments.
Offering Israel new opportunities for obstruction8 Jul 2009rr r r r rr r rr r rr r rr rr rrr rIsrael has never been short of pretexts for obstructing progress towards a Middle East peace settlement. But recent moves to push Arab and Muslim states to normalize ties with Israel as a reward for agreeing to freeze settlement construction will likely provide Israel with more opportunities for obstruction rather than incentives for cooperation. Hasan Abu Nimah comments.
Six months later, no reconstruction in Gaza8 Jul 2009rr r r rr r rr r rr r rr r rr rrr rMahmoud Abu al-Anzain and his wife, Umm Naim, and their three children used to live in a two-room, cement-roofed house. It wasn’t a palace, but it was a home. The house was completely destroyed by Israeli army fire during last January’s assault on the Gaza Strip. Six months later, the family is among those still living in tents. Rami Almeghari reports for The Electronic Intifada.
Elections only fortify Lebanon’s sectarian politics7 Jul 2009rr r r rr r rr r rr r rr r rr rrr rLebanon’s elections last month confirmed yet again that in this tiny Mediterranean country, sectarian politics are paramount. Long gone from the collective consciousness are the lessons of the 15-year civil war that began as a political and class dispute and descended into sectarian enmity. Forgotten also are the post-war years that led up to the recent elections and were characterized by the ebb and flow of civil strife. Sami Halabi comments for Electronic Lebanon.
Melbourne International Film Festival urged to not promote apartheid7 Jul 2009rr r r r rr r rr r rr r rr rr rrr rThe Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (PACBI) is writing with grave concern over the Melbourne International Film Festival’s cultural partnership with the Israeli state, as advertised in its promotional material. We write to urge the festival not to accept Israeli government funding or sustain this partnership with a state that practices occupation, colonialism and apartheid.
The dream of returning home7 Jul 2009rr r r rr r rr r rr r rr r rr rrr rFadi looked up and pointed at the rain. “This is like our life. We hate the rain. But we can’t change it so we will stay under it.” This rain appeared all the more invasive when picking lemons in winter. It is a cold, wet and miserable task, for the equivalent of $7 a day. A task only perceived to be fit for Palestinians in Lebanon. Despite Fadi’s postgraduate qualification in accounting and fluency in English, he rightly pointed out that “I can’t be a lawyer, I can’t be a doctor … Seventy-two jobs I can’t do.” Mary Pole writes from the al-Buss refugee camp.
Hamas’ choice: Recognition or resistance in the age of Obama6 Jul 2009rr r r r rr r rr r rr r rr rr rrr rIn a major policy speech on 25 June 2009, Khaled Meshal, the head of Hamas’ political bureau, tried to do what may be impossible: present the Islamist Palestinian resistance organization as a willing partner in a US-led peace process, while holding on to his movement’s political principles and base. This is the dilemma that every Palestinian leadership, and perhaps almost every liberation movement, has eventually had to confront. It is a choice, as political scientist Tamim Barghouti has pointed out, between recognition and legitimacy. Ali Abunimah analyzes.
Minister calls for Jewish takeover of Palestinian areas in Israel6 Jul 2009rr r r rr r rr r rr r rr r rr rrr rIsrael’s housing minister called for strict segregation between the country’s Jewish and Arab populations last week as he unveiled plans to move large numbers of fundamentalist religious Jews to Israel’s north to prevent what he described as an “Arab takeover” of the region. Jonathan Cook reports.
Book review: Lebanon’s political posters as sites of struggle6 Jul 2009rr r r r rr r rr r rr r rr rr rrr rThe power of posters, as not merely symbolic weapons but also sites of hegemonic struggle during Lebanon’s civil war, is a central theme of Zeina Maasri’s new book Off the Wall: Political Posters of the Lebanese Civil War. A mix of text and image, the book is a rich and visually engaging work that tackles a dimension of war long-neglected by Lebanese historians. Hicham Safieddine reviews for The Electronic Intifada.
Hiyam, a Gaza teenager killed as she offered aid5 Jul 2009rr r r rr r rr r rr r rr r rr rrr r”At 5:30 PM an Israeli shell landed on my brother’s house,” the father told visitors who had come to offer condolences for his daughter at the family’s home on Friday. The shell injured a nephew and Salim Abu Ayish rushed to render aid. “I asked Hiyam to bring me the car key from my bedroom,” Salim Abu Ayish said. As she went, he recalled, “suddenly another shell struck my room, killing Hiyam instantly, as shrapnel rippled through her body.” The Electronic Intifada correspondent Rami Almeghari reports from the occupied Gaza Strip.
Gaza’s sea a “no-go zone” for fishermen2 Jul 2009rr r r rr r rr r rr r rr r rr rrr rGAZA CITY, occupied Gaza Strip (IPS) – “They told us ‘go west or we will shoot you,’” says Ashraf Sadallah. “Initially, we refused, so they began shooting very close all around our boat.” At 6am on 16 June, Sadallah and his brother Abdel Hadi Sadallah, in their early twenties, went roughly 400 meters out to sea off the coast of Sudaniya in Gaza’s northwest. “We wanted to bring in nets we had left out the night before,” says Sadallah.
Why Obama should fire General Dayton2 Jul 2009rr r r rr r rr r rr r rr r rr rrr rThe US-sponsored “security coordination” program headed by Lt. Gen. Keith Dayton, which was launched by the Bush Administration in 2005 to allegedly help the Palestinians reform their security services, has done more harm than good. US President Barack Obama would do well to fire Dayton and put an end to US intrusion into internal Palestinian affairs. Mohammed J. Herzallah comments for The Electronic Intifada.
Gaza aid boat crew detained, threatened with deportation2 Jul 2009rr r r rr r rr r rr r rr r rr rrr rRAMALLAH, occupied West Bank (IPS) – Twenty-one international peace activists were seized by Israeli naval frigates in international waters Tuesday as their boat The Spirit of Humanity tried to carry humanitarian aid to Gaza. The activists, including former US Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney and Irish Nobel Peace laureate Mairead Maguire, and nationals from 11 other countries were part of the Free Gaza Movement (FGM) efforts to break Israel’s naval and border blockade of Gaza.
Newsroom politics dramatized in “Oh Well Never Mind Bye”2 Jul 2009rr r r r rr r rr r rr r rr rr rrr rThe play Oh Well Never Mind Bye is set in the busy newsroom of an unnamed London-based newspaper—probably a right-wing tabloid—in the days before and after London police shot dead a Brazilian immigrant on an underground train. But in a genuinely brave piece of playwriting, Steven Lally has drawn on wider themes, including the “churnalism” that has turned much of the journalistic profession into a regurgitation of celebrity press releases, the way in which Palestine and related issues are reported in the mainstream media and the influence of the Zionist lobby on news coverage. Sarah Irving reviews for The Electronic Intifada.
Month in pictures: June 20091 Jul 2009rr r r rr r rr r rr r rr r rr rrr rThe below photographs are a selection of images from the month of June 2009. “The month in pictures” is an ongoing feature by The Electronic Intifada. If you have images documenting Palestine, Palestinian life, politics and culture, or of solidarity with Palestine, please email images and captions to photos A T electronicintifada D O T net.
Drug addiction on the rise in besieged Gaza1 Jul 2009rr r r rr r rr r rr r rr r rr rrr rGAZA CITY, occupied Gaza Strip (IPS) – They are little white, yellow or green pills and are available almost anywhere. At the pharmacies or in the market, they are accessible, addictive and cheap. “I take them because it makes me forget, at least for a little while, that I’m in Gaza,” says Abu Alaa, a resident of the strip and father of four. “There is no alternative.” Looking to escape years of war, searing poverty and an unrelenting economic blockade, medical officials in the Gaza Strip say residents have developed a serious addiction to the narcotic painkiller Tramadol.
Salam Fayyad’s false optimism1 Jul 2009rr r r rr r rr r rr r rr r rr rrr rA Palestinian state could become “a firm reality” by the “end of next year or within two years at the most,” Salam Fayyad, the prime minister appointed by Palestinian Authority (PA) leader Mahmoud Abbas, was quoted as saying on 22 June in a speech at Al-Quds University in Abu Dis, a village outside Jerusalem. Such expectations have been frequently voiced before by former Palestinian prime minister and negotiator Ahmad Qureia, or the late Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat. But what is more evident are the facts on the ground that do not provide much support for these expectations. Rami Almeghari comments for The Electronic Intifada.
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