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An immaculate conception?

Joseph Massad 14 April 2010



The Palestinian Authority is pregnant! Indeed, it is the unelected and American-imposed Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad who is pregnant. He told the Israeli newspaper Haaretz in a recent interview that “the time for this baby to be born will come … and we estimate it will come around 2011.” Unlike females of the human species but like female whales, the gestation period for male Palestinian collaborators with the Israeli occupation extends at least to two years. Joseph Massad comments. 

A silent killer in Gaza

Mel Frykberg 13 April 2010



GAZA CITY, occupied Gaza Strip (IPS) - “You feel very sleepy and dizzy. You put your head down and all you want to do is sleep. Everything feels very peaceful, you are not even aware what is happening and if there is no immediate intervention you are dead within minutes,” Enaam Abu Nada told IPS. 

Film review: Uncovering truth and humor in Edward Salem's "Impunity"

Jimmy Johnson 13 April 2010



Edward Salem’s is not a conventional documentary in the sense that it doesn’t offer any one or series of narratives for the audience to follow. Impunity is instead best appreciated as a profound ethnography on the coping mechanisms of a people under siege and in the aftermath of the massive destruction of Operation Cast Lead. Jimmy Johnson writes for The Electronic Intifada. 

Film review: Surreal struggle in Michel Khleifi's "Zindeeq"

Maureen Clare Murphy 13 April 2010



Michel Khleifi, the celebrated director of Wedding in Galilee, turns the camera inward in his 2009 feature film, Zindeeq (the meanings of which include “atheist” or “freethinker”), featured at the opening of the annual Chicago Palestine Film Festival this Friday. It is Khleifi’s first feature film in 14 years; his most recent film was the 2003 documentary he filmed in collaboration with Eyal Sivan, Route 181: Fragments of a Journey in Palestine-Israel. The Electronic Intifada’s Maureen Clare Murphy reviews. 

Grassroots organizer targeted by PA, Israeli forces

Nora Barrows-Friedman 13 April 2010



Mousa Abu Maria, co-coordinator of the grassroots Palestine Solidarity Project in the occupied West Bank village of Beit Ommar, was used to the sound of boots running on the ground and surrounding his home in the middle of the night. But when Abu Maria looked outside the window this time, it wasn’t Israeli forces shouting at him to come outside. Nora Barrows-Friedman reports for The Electronic Intifada. 

Belgian bank financing Israeli settlements

David Cronin 13 April 2010



BRUSSELS (IPS) - Dexia, a major Belgian-French bank, is continuing to finance Israeli authorities in the Occupied Palestinian Territories almost a year after it indicated that it would cease providing loans to illegal settlements. In May 2009, Dexia promised that it would not lend any fresh money to councils representing Israeli settlers in the occupied West Bank. 

Jerusalem: heart of conflict, beginning of reconciliation

Rifat Odeh Kassis 13 April 2010



The Kairos document reminds Jews, Muslims and Christians alike that Jerusalem should be the place where God reconciles with his people and where the creatures of God reconcile with each other. And it affirms the equal importance of Jerusalem for the Palestinian people, whether Christian or Muslim. This affirmation, this unity of vision — not in the sense that everyone must share the same beliefs, but in the sense that the freedom to believe must always be shared — is the document’s greatest strength. Rifat Odeh Kassis comments for The Electronic Intifada. 

UK's discriminatory criminalization of dissent

Sarah Irving 12 April 2010



More than 100 individuals were arrested at or after solidarity demonstrations during Israel’s attack on Gaza during winter 2008-09. Almost all of the demonstrators charged with violent disorder were Muslim, despite the mixed nature of the protests, which were supported by majority-white organizations like the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament as well as by Islamic groups. Sarah Irving reports for The Electronic Intifada. 

Attack on Berkeley divestment bill dishonest and misleading

Sydney Levy and Yaman Salahi 12 April 2010



A coalition of nearly 20 Jewish groups, ranging from the right-wing David Project and the Jewish National Fund to the liberal J Street, is distributing a misleading statement condemning a Student Senate bill calling for divestment from the Israeli occupation at the University of California, Berkeley. They refer to the bill as “dishonest” and “misleading” and “based on contested allegations.” Yet it is their letter that is both dishonest and misleading. Sydney Levy and Yaman Salahi comment.