From the Editors

Highlighting important stories on and off The Electronic Intifada.

Cyberspace: a 21st century diwan

Giles Trendle
1 September 2002

Within cyberspace there is a growing network of individuals and groups coalescing around the key demands for an end to Israeli occupation of Arab territories and the creation of a Palestinian state. This network constitutes a ‘swarm’, an Internet-related term referring to a global body of people with a common cause using the Internet to share information, mobilise support and coordinate direct action online and, at times, on the streets…. While pro-Israeli activists may be attempting to mobilise their own ‘swarm’ in order to defend and enforce the existing balance of power in the Arab-Israeli conflict, the potential size and power of a pro-Palestinian ‘swarm’ is worth considering.

Business: Stephen Roeder, San Diego State University

22 July 2002

In this profile, under a section titled “Favorite Web sites”, Roeder includes EI and states: “Palestinian viewpoints are not adequately presented in popular news media in the U.S. This is a source presenting the Palestinian viewpoints.”

The Electronic Intifada; Holt uncensored: alternative sources for news

Pat Holt
22 March 2002

Of course this “resource for countering myth, distortion and spin from the Israeli media war machine” is going to have a pro-Palestinian spin, but because of that, it was a site to check on Arab-American reactions to the 9/11 attacks, violence against Arab Americans and Arab- and Muslim-owned buildings, and answers to such rumors as those alleging that the Reuters footage of celebrating Palestinians after the 9/11 attacks was old film from a different event. (It wasn’t, say the editors, but why didn’t American media also show the one million Palestinian school children who observed a minute of silence in support and sympathy for American victims?)

Activists Spend Sunday Morning Strategizing

Hanaa L. Rifaey
31 July 2001

Abunimah, writer and commentator on the Middle East and Arab-American issues, was refreshingly optimistic about the increasing Arab presence in the media. To make his point, he cited the Palestine Media Watch group (www.pmwatch.org), the Palestinian Right of Return Coalition’s website and media group (www.alawda.org), the “Electronic Intifada” he helped to create (www.electronicintifada.net), and the rising number of letters to the editor and opinion pieces being published in newspapers publicizing Arab perspectives. Although Abunimah was optimistic, he was not unrealistic, noting that this was not enough and we can do even more. He advised the audience to focus more on the local level with grassroots media activism dealing with local media and presenting local angles on national and international stories. Abunimah concluded by declaring that we cannot stay silent because “the cost of silence is too great.”

Time to expose Israeli propaganda network

Linda S. Heard
20 August 2002

The Internet, however, has witnessed a plethora of pro-Palestinian websites springing up, such as the highly professional and committed Electronic Intifada, Palestine Media Watch and Ramallah On-line. These sites offer the latest news on the ground from the Palestinian territories, up-to-date articles, day-to-day accounts of life under occupation as well as historical facts. These pro-Palestinian websites also organise campaigns to get their message across in the most effective way possible, without using HonestReporting-type intimidation tactics. Visitors to the websites are urged to provide moral support to courageous reporters like Robert Fisk, Suzanne Goldenberg, Amira Hass, and Gideon Levy.

Opinion Context

Rina Jimenez-David
19 September 2001

ONE of the most provocative images in the immediate aftermath of the Sept. 11 tragedy was that of young Palestinians cheering and celebrating allegedly upon hearing news of the horror that visited Manhattan and the Pentagon. Nigel Parry, a writer on Mideast affairs who has lived for some time in the West Bank, offers to place this disturbing scene in context….

A story of conflict: coverage of fighting in the Middle East has brought war to many newsrooms

Abe Aamidor
1 February 2003

There’s one thing top editors and executives at major media outlets in North America seem to agree on: No area of international reporting receives more scrutiny - and more complaints — than coverage of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

EI's Ali Abunimah in USA Today's "Talk Today"

21 August 2003

This week’s devastating violence between Israel and the Palestinians appears to have rendered the eight-week-old truce, or hudna, null and void. After Thursday’s killing of a senior Hamas official by Israel in retaliation for a suicide bombing of a bus in Jerusalem which 20 people died. The Islamic militant group Hamas threatened revenge and formally abandoned the cease-fire. EI’s Ali Abunimah answers questions from readers of USA Today on what it takes “to stop the violence between Israel and the Palestinians.”

EI "Voices of Peace" acceptance speech at ADC conference

19 June 2003

Two Electronic Intifada and Electronic Iraq co-founders, Ali Abunimah and Nigel Parry, were at the 20th National Convention of the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee in Washington DC on 14 June 2003 to accept the ADC’s Voices of Peace Award on behalf of the founders of EI and sister site Electronic Iraq. The award was presented to EI and eIraq “in recognition of its commitment to bringing the concerns, voices, and experiences of the Iraqi and Palestinian peoples to audiences the world over via the Internet.”

Mideast Internet sites claim media bias

Melanie A. Stawicki
23 February 2003

Well balanced article by Melanie A. Stawicki in the Missourian that notes the fault lines that exist between the media critiques offered by organisations such as CAMERA, The Electronic Intifada, and the commercial media itself.

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